IvIBRARV 

OF  THK 

University  of  California. 

GIRT  OF^ 

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I 


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littp://www.arcliive.org/details/agreementofscienOOwytliricli 


THE 


AGREEMENT 


OF 


Science  and  Revelation 


BY 


Rev.  JOS.   H.  WYTHE,  M.  D. 


The  -word  of  the  Lord  is  tried."— Ps.  xviii.  30. 


SECOND  EDITION.  REVISED. 


PHILADELPHIA 

J.    B.    LI  PPI  NCOTT    &    CO, 

1879. 


"  The  Bible,  as  the  Book  of  books,  is  as  the  sun  in  the  center  of  all 
other  religious  records ;  the  Kings  of  the  Chinese,  the  Vedas  of  India, 
the  Zendavesta  of  the  Persians,  the  Eddas  of  the  Germans,  the  Jewish 
Talmud,  and  the  Mohammedan  Koran ;  judging  all  that  is  hostile  in 
them,  reconciling  and  bringing  into  liberty  whatever  elements  of  truth 
they  may  contain.     .     .     . 

"As  the  ideal  Cosmos  of  the  revelation  of  salvation,  it  forms  with  the 
Cosmos  of  the  general  revelation  of  God  an  organic  unity.  (Ps.  viii.,  xix., 
civ.)  It  is  the  Key  of  the  World-Cosmos,  while  this  again  is  the  living 
illustration  of  the  Cosmos  of  the  Scripture." 

Lange  :  General  Introduction  to  the  Old  Testament. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1872,  by 

REV.    JOS.    H.  WYTHE,    M.  D., 
In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress  at  Washington. 


PREFACE. 


The  present  work  is  designed  to  supply  a  want 
long  felt,  not  only  by  the  readers  of  scientific  books, 
but  also  by  Christian  ministers  and  people.  It  is  an 
attempt  to  exhibit  in  brief  compass  the  true  relations . 
and  harmony  of  Nature  and  Revelation,  by  present- 
ing some  of  the  analogies  between  the  truths  of  the 
supernatural  world  and  the  researches  of  history, 
astronomy,  geology,  and  physiology.  It  claims  that 
Science  and  Faith  mutually  support  each  other, — 
that  the  many-colored  coat  of  infidelity  is  a  patch- 
work taken  from  an  effete  and  unscientific  heathenism, 
— that  the  Bible  is  a  record  of  the  original  faith  of 
mankind  and  of  its  development  in  history, — that  the 
principles  of  biblical  interpretation  must  be  based  on 
the  modes  of  Divine  revelation, — and  that  the  biblical 
doctrines  concerning  God,  the  creation,  the  human 
soul,  the  need  of  a  Mediator,  the  faith- faculty,  and 
the  resurrection  of  the  dead,  are  in  perfect  accordance 
with  true  science. 

A  terse,  simple  style  has  been  attempted,  in  hope 

(3) 


4  Preface. 

of  rendering  the  work  useful  both  as  a  text-book  for 
the  student  and  as  a  collection  of  essays  on  topics  of 
more  than  ordinary  interest  at  the  present  day.  A 
few  technicalities  were  unavoidable :  hence  a  Glossary 
of  Scientific  and  Theological  Terms  has  been  ap- 
pended. The  analyses  of  the  chapters,  and  a  copious 
Index,  also,  will  be  found  useful. 

As  to  the  doctrinal  statements  or  scientific  facts 
and  principles  referred  to,  information  has  been 
sought  from  reliable  sources  and  is  presented  with 
the  freshness  of  thorough  conviction.  Where  practi- 
cable, indebtedness  to  others  has  been  acknowledged, 
either  in  the  text  or  the  margin. 

By  an  exhibition  of  the  harmony  and  essential 
unity  of  plan  in  all  God's  works,  natural  and  super- 
natural, we  seek  to  add  to  the  living  stream  of 
Christian  evidences,  whose  volume  increases  from 
age  to  age. 


PREFACE  TO  THE  SECOND  EDITION. 


The  sale  of  more  than  two  thousand  copies  of  the  first 
edition,  the  introduction  of  the  work  into  the  course  of 
study  for  junior  ministers  of  the  M.  E.  Church,  and  the 
many  favorable  notices  from  the  press  of  different  de- 
nominations of  Christians,  are  sufficient  evidences  of 
the  utility  of  this  book.  The  author  desires  to  record 
here  his  sense  of  gratitude  to  the  Giver  of  all  good, 
who  has  enabled  him  in  some  degree  to  serve  the  cause 
of  religious  truth.  Some  additional  matter  has  been 
added  to  the  present  edition,  chiefly  relating  to  the 
antiquity  of  man,  the  theory  of  evolution,  and  the 
doctrine  of  a  Mediator. 

5 

1* 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

PAGB 

Relation  of  Science  and  Faith ii 


CHAPTER  II. 
The  Variations  of  Skepticism 33 

CHAPTER  III. 
The  Record  of  Faith 53 

CHAPTER  IV. 
The  Interpretation  of  the  Record 89 

CHAPTER  V. 
The  Revelation  of  God 119 

CHAPTER  VI. 
The  Creation 149 

CHAPl^ER  VII. 

The  Spiritual  Nature  of  the  Soul 179 

(7) 


8  Contents. 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

PAGB 

The  Doctrine  of  a  Mediator 217 

CHAPTER  IX. 
The  Faith-Faculty  in  Man 241 

CHAPTER  X. 
The  Resurrection 261 

Glossary  of  Scientific  and  Theological  Terms 283 

Index 301 


CHAPTER    I. 
THE  RELATION  OF  SCIENCE  AND  FAITH. 


"  Faith  is  .  .  .  the  evidence  of  things  not  seen." — ST.  PAUL. 

(9) 


CONTENTS. 

Definitions — General  Relation  of  Faith  and  Science — Different  Re- 
ception of  Religious  Faith  and  Hypothetical  Speculations  of  Science 
— Pantheistic  Objections  to  the  Supernatural  examined — Arguments 
against  Pantheism  from  Physical,  Mental,  and  Moral  Science — De- 
istic  Objection  to  the  Possibility  of  Miracles  examined — Evidence 
of  Christian  Truth  various — Character  of  Modern  Infidelity — The 
Materials  for  settling  the  Question  of  the  Harmony  of  Nature  and 
Revelation  are  complete. 


(lO) 


CHAPTER   I. 

RELATION   OF   SCIENCE   AND   FAITH. 

A  DEFINITION  IS  not  Only  a  stepping-stone  to  truth, 
but  also  a  revealer  of  fallacies.  Like  the  spear  of 
Ithuriel^ithas  caused  many  a  concealed  temptation  or 
doubt  to  assume  its  true  shape  and  proportions.  In 
the  investigation  of  religious  truth  it  is  especially 
necessary  to  define  the  leading  terms  employed,  in 
order  to  insure  clearness  of  mental  vision.  What, 
then,  is  the  meaning  of  Science,  and  what  of  Faith  ? — 
terms  often  used,  and  essential  to  our  present  inquiry. 

Lexicographers  define  Science  as  certain  knowl- 
edge, or,  in  a  more  particular  sense,  as  a  collection 
of  the  general  principles  or  leading  truths  relating  to 
any  subject,  arranged  in  systematic  order.  This  term, 
though  often  loosely  applied,  is  seldom  misunder- 
stood. It  is  different,  however,  with  the  term  Faith. 
Sometimes  it  is  used  as  a  synonym  for  the  word 
Belief,  meaning  a  persuasion  of  the  truth  of  a  decla- 
ration, proposition,  or  alleged  fact,  on  the  ground 
of  evidence.  At  other  times,  and  chiefly  by  theo- 
logians, it  is  used  to  express  confidence,  or  such 
trust  as  influences  the  affections  and  conduct.  Both 
senses  seem  to  be  derived  from  the  primary  meaning 
of  the  original  word,  which,  according  to  Webster,  is 
to  strain,  to  draw,  and  thus  to  bind  or  make  fast. 

(II) 


12  Faith  necessary  to  Science. 

The  Apostle  Paul  says,  "Faith  is  the  substance 
{onoaxaaiq — a  being  set  under,  a  reahzing)  of  things 
hoped  for,  the  evidence  (sAey/^c — persuasion,  convic- 
tion) of  things  not  seen." 

From  the  definition  it  is  evident  that  the  spheres 
of  Faith  and  Science  differ.  Science  relates  to  the 
known.  Faith  may  refer  either  to  the  known  or  the 
unknown.  If  we  use  the  term  Faith  in  the  sense 
of  either  belief  or  trust,  it  will  apply  to  known  or 
scientific  truths  as  well  as  to  those  based  on  testi- 
mony or  revelation.  Indeed,  there  can  be  no  science 
without  faith.  Deduction,  induction,  and  testimony, 
the  very  pillars  of  science,  appeal  to  faith,  and  are 
impossible  without  it.  Mathematical  axioms  are 
called  self-evident  propositions,  but  they  are  so  be- 
cause with  the  present  structure  of  our  minds  they 
compel  our  faith.  The  objects  of  faith  may  be 
also  the  objects  of  science,  or  they  may  be  things 
unknown  to  science.  These  latter,  again,  may  be- 
come objects  of  science  without  ceasing  thereby 
to  be  objects  of  faith.  "  Science  has  in  many 
things  altered  the  standpoint  or  extended  the  do- 
main of  faith,  but  has  never  rendered  faith  un- 
necessary. It  has  enlarged  the  faith  of  childhood 
into  the  faith  of  manhood,  but  every  hint  of  light 
which  it  has  discovered  has  pointed  out  a  great 
gloom  beyond."*  Into  that  gloom  of  the  unknown 
the  eye  of  faith  pierces,  from  thence  it  hears  voices 
of  truth  which  are  as  yet  inaudible  to  science.     The 


*  Ecce  Deus. 


Faith  a  Necessity  for  Man.  1 3 

spirit  of  science  may  incline  a  man  to  doubt,  but 
not  necessarily  to  unbelief.  It  weighs,  disputes,  ex- 
amines, deduces,  experiments;  but  its  generalizations 
are  all  inferences  of  faith.  The  majority  of  scientific 
truths  are  accepted  by  faith  in  the  testimony  of 
others  ;  few,  comparatively,  are  verified  by  personal 
experiment.  It  is  usually  a  sufficient  authentication 
of  a  scientific  fact  if  it  be  published  by  recognized 
authority  and  is  consistent  with  other  known  facts. 
In  this  manner  science*  is  propagated  by  faith.  It  is 
the  nature  of  faith  to  be  constructive;  it  educates  or 
draws  on  the  mind  to  the  knowledge  of  truth.  First 
faith,  then  science,  then  understanding;  such  is  the 
progress  of  the  mind  towards  a  knowledge  of  the 
truths  of  nature  or  religion.  To  lose  faith  in  sight  is 
the  constant  hope  of  the  instructed  Christian.  *'  For 
now  we  see  through  a  glass,  darkly;  but  then  face  to 
face:  now  I  know  in  part;  but  then  shall  I  know  even 
as  also  I  am  known."  Unbelief  is  essentially  de- 
structive. Its  object  is  to  pull  down,  not  to  build 
up,  and  it  is  really  as  much  opposed  to  science  as  to 
religion.  Few,  if  any,  minds  have  been  possessed 
with  the  full  spirit  of  unbelief  It  is  too  unsatisfactory, 
as  well  as  too  malignant.  Man  must  have  belief  of 
some  kind,  or  existence  would  be  insupportable.  It 
would  be  useless  to  attempt  to  argue  with  unbelief; 
we  address  ourselves,  therefore,  to  the  spirit  of  inquiry 
and  examination, — to  the  scientific  spirit;  we  desire 
an  investigation  of  the  consistency  of  the  leading  doc- 
trines of  Christianity  with  what  we  know  of  the  world 
around  us.     We  would  bring  Faith,  as  taught  by  the 


14  Opposition  to  Faith  unscientific, 

Bible,  and  Science,  as  instructed  by  deduction  and 
experiment,  face  to  face.  We  would  interrogate  the 
witnesses,  and  see  if,  while  preserving  their  indi- 
viduality, they  do  not  agree  to  the  same  facts. 

Faith  in  axiomatic  truths  is  readily  admitted,  be- 
cause of  their  necessity  to  explain  the  phenomena 
of  the  natural  world.  The  demonstrations  of  mathe- 
matics and  the  experiments  of  physical  science  are  im- 
possible without  it.  In  like  manner,  faith  in  spiritual 
things  is  necessary  to  explain  the  phenomena  of  mind. 

The  faith  which  relates  to  the  external  world,  even 
if  hypothetical,  finds  no  special  opposition  from  the 
votaries  of  modern  science;  on  the  contrary,  their 
works  abound  with  deductions  and  theories  which 
have  nothing  but  a  problematical  basis.  Thus  the 
speculations  grounded  on  the  supposition  of  a  uni- 
versal ether,  the  unity  of  force,  the  atomic  theory  of 
chemistry,  the  inhabitability  of  the  planets,  etc.,  are  very 
far  from  being  demonstrations,  yet  the  faith  of  philoso- 
phers remains  unshaken,  and,  generally,  unopposed. 

It  is  very  different  with  respect  to  religious  faith, 
or  faith  in  the  reality  of  the  supernatural.  For  this 
the  naturalistic  school  ©f  philosophers  can  find  no- 
thing but  contempt.  With  a  blind  and  unscientific 
adherence  to  preconceived  opinion,  they  exhibit,  under 
the  false  pretense  of  science,  the  same  vulgar  prejudice 
which  so  long  hindered  the  progress  and  acceptance 
of  physical  discovery.  With  them  the  supernatural  and 
the  imaginative  are  synonymous,  and  are  set  aside  with 
an  ill-disguised  sneer.  Their  philosophic  structure 
rests  upon  the  theory  that  the  whole  nature  of  things 


Pafitheism.  1 5 

is  fixed  and  unalterable;  the  opposite  of  the  Platonic 
theory  that  nature  is  in  constant  flow;  hence  their 
negation  of  the  supernatural. 

"Men,"  says  the  Duke  of  Argyll,  "who  denounce 
any  particular  field  of  thought  are  always  to  be  sus- 
pected. The  presumption  is  that  valuable  things 
which  these  men  do  not  like  are  to  be  found  there. 
There  are  many  forms  of  priestcraft.  The  same  arts, 
and  the  same  delusions,  have  been  practiced  in  many 
causes.  Sometimes,  though  perhaps  not  so  often  as 
is  popularly  supposed,  men  have  been  warned  off 
particular  branches  of  physical  inquiry,  in  the  sup- 
posed interests  of  religion.  But  constantly  and  habit- 
ually men  are  now  warned  from  many  branches  of 
inquiry,  both  physical  and  psychological,  in  the  in- 
terests— real  enough — of  the  Positive  Philosophy  ! 
*  Whatever,'  says  Mr.  Lewes,  'is  inaccessible  to  reason 
should  be  strictly  interdicted  to  research.'  Here  we 
have  the  true  ring  of  the  old  sacerdotal  interdicts."* 

At  the  present  day,  faith  in  the  supernatural  is  re- 
jected by  the  pantheists,  who  regard  the  universe  as 
the  evolution  of  absolute  being,  and  by  the  deists, 
who  consider  the  order  of  nature  so  perfect  as  to 
imply  immutability  and  inviolability.  Let  us  exam- 
ine these  theories  by  the  test  of  reason  and  an  ap- 
peal to  facts. 

By  what  process  of  reasoning  do  any  persuade 
themselves  that  nature  is  self-evolved,  and  not  the 
product  of  a  Supreme  Intelligence  ?     How  comes  it 

*  Primeval  Man. 


1 6  Faith  welcomes  Science. 

to  pass  that  any  human  intellect  can  conceive  that 
contrivance,  and  thought,  and  feeling  are  the  product 
of  unintelligent,  insensible  matter  ? 

The  principal,  if  not  the  only,  argument  on  which 
such  theorists  rely,  is  drawn  from  the  advance  of 
science.  Day  by  day  science  contracts  the  sphere  of 
the  unknown  in  the  world  around  us,  and  enlarges 
that  which  is  known.  Imaginary  theories  are  ex- 
ploded, as  the  forces  which  act  upon  matter  and 
their  modes  of  action  are  brought  to  light.  Our 
philosopher  deems  it  therefore  reasonable  to  suppose 
that  when  our  knowledge  of  nature  is  perfected  we 
shall  see  sufficient  reason  for  the  existence  and  de- 
velopment of  all  things  in  the  universe  itself,  without 
resorting  to  the  idea  of  a  cause  separate  and  apart 
from  the  universe. 

But  is  this  true,  or  even  rational  ?  If  our  knowl- 
edge of  nature  were  perfect,  would  it  disprove  an  order 
beyond  and  above  nature?  The  very  idea  of  the 
supernatural  presupposes  natural  order  and  laws. 
Nature  and  the  supernatural  might  coexist,  and  our 
knowledge  of  one  be  perfect  while  we  know  nothing 
of  the  other.  That  we  may  know  the  supernatural, 
it  must  reveal  itself  in  the  sphere  of  the  natural.  The 
reality  of  such  revelation  is  a  subject  to  be  examined 
in  a  true  spirit  of  scientific  inquiry.  Faith  in  the 
supernatural  has  nothing  to  fear  from  the  enlarge- 
ment of  the  domain  of  science.  It  can  afford  to  wel- 
come every  improvement  of  the  faculties  of  the  human 
mind,  as  tending  to  that  perfection  of  reason  which 
will  fully  qualify  us  for  examining  the  foundation  of 


Natural  Science  against  Pantheism,  17 

eternal  truth  on  which  it  rests.  As  to  the  revelation 
of  the  supernatural,  we  shall  inquire  hereafter;  it  is 
sufficient  here  to  show  that  the  ground  of  pantheism 
is  untenable  and  unscientific. 

It  is  the  intoxication  of  scientific  pursuit  which  so 
strongly  attracts  its  votaries  to  the  exclusive  study  of 
nature  as  to  limit  human  faculties  to  a  narrow  sphere, 
— one  which  excludes  as  unworthy  all  investigation 
outside  its  own  limits.  The  dignity  of  reason  should 
lead  to  broader  views.  Yet,  forsooth,  these  are  the 
men  who  give  the  name  of  narrow-mindedness  to  the 
generalization  which  includes  heaven  as  well  as  earth, 
and  regard  themselves  as  perfect  just  in  proportion  to 
the  specialty  of  their  pursuit.  Such  infatuation  is  as 
unscientific  as  it  is  foolish.  It  is  not  science  which 
teaches  pantheism,  but  ignorance  and  pride. 

Arguments  against  pantheism,  and  in  favor  of  the 
supernatural,  may  be  drawn  from  every  branch  of 
science, — physical,  mental,  and  moral;  although  the 
reality  of  the  supernatural  must  be  learned  by  its 
revelations. 

Physical  science  exhibits  the  universe  to  us  as  a 
series  of  existences,  arranged  in  such  a  manner,  rank 
above  rank,  that  one  species  is  never  witnessed  trans- 
forming itself  into  another.  No  such  development  as 
pantheism  pretends  is  ever  seen  in  nature.  The 
theories  of  spontaneous  generation  and  of  natural 
selection  have  not  a  shadow  of  experimental  proof, 
while  the  general  arrangement  of  nature  presents  a 
plan  full  of  unity  and  intelligence,  exhibiting  the  hand 
of  a  contriver  in  each  of  its  parts.  Life  and  organi- 
2* 


1 8  Morality  against  Pantheism. 

zation  can  never  be  explained  by  the  development  of 
material  atoms,  much  less  can  intellis^ence.  "  How 
should  spirit  be  born  of  matter  ?  The  appearance  of 
life  in  the  organic  world  was  a  new  fact,  or,  to  speak 
more  correctly,  an  act  of  creation,  for  it  could  not 
leap  from  the  insensate  stone  like  the  spark  from 
fretted  pebbles.  The  appearance  of  animal  life  was 
equally  a  new  act,  for  plant  never  gave  other  than 
vegetable  life.  Surely  from  the  life  of  the  animal  to 
that  of  the  spirit  the  leap  is  more  wide  and  sudden 
still,  and  creative  energy  must  have  manifested  itself 
with  greater  glory  to  produce  this  higher  form  of 
life."  We  shall  examine  the  theory  of  development 
more  closely  hereafter ;  at  present  we  only  refer  to 
the  verdict  of  not  prcroed,  which  science  has  rendered 
against  it,  bringing  us  to  the  only  alternative  of  a 
Great  First  Cause. 

Metaphysics  repudiates  pantheism ;  for  "  reason 
refuses  to  admit  that  the  perfect  and  infinite  of  which 
it  has  the  conception,  can  be  inseparably  bound  to 
the  imperfect  and  the  finite ;  that  the  imperfect  and 
finite  form  part  of  God  himself"  Again,  the  only 
element  of  pantheistic  philosophy  is  inflexible,  abso- 
lute fate.  This  is  seen  in  all  its  forms, — in  atheism 
and  positivism,  in  the  romancing  of  Renan,  the  sta- 
tistics of  Buckle,  and  the  speculations  of  the  material- 
istic physiologists.  The  consciousness  of  freedom 
in  the  mind  of  man  is  an  ever-living  testimony  against 
all  such  folly. 

The  Freedom  of  the  Will  is  the  central  point  of 
attack  by  modern  skeptics,  yet  "  the  passionate  ob- 


Morality  against  Pantheism.  19 

stinacy  with  which  the  declarations  of  the  common 
sense  of  mankind  are  contested  and  every  fragment 
of  free  self-determining  power  denied,  serves  to  bring 
out  more  emphatically  than  before  the  marvelous  and 
isolated  character  of  that  power  of  choice  which  all 
unprejudiced  men  know  that  they  possess.  When  it 
comes  to  be  fully  appreciated,  amongst  the  many, 
how  rigid  law  rules  not  only  all  living  as  well  as 
inanimate  irrational  creatures,  but  how  even  the 
immense  majority  of  our  own  actions  are  simply 
automatic;  the  wonderful  character  of  our  power  of 
(in  certain  cases)  voluntarily  choosing  the  less  attract- 
ive of  two  competing  objects  will  be  less  inadequately 
estimated.  Moreover,  the  recognition  in  our  own 
being  of  this  power,  beyond  anything  else  in  nature, 
renders  supernatural  action  external  to  us  not  only 
credible,  but  to  be  anticipated  <2/;V^n.  .  .  .  The  bitter 
hostility  which  exists  to  the  doctrine  of  man's  free- 
will is  not  difficult  to  understand.  It  is  impossible 
to  assert  it  without  implicitly  asserting  religion ;  and 
it  is,  in  one  aspect  at  least,  a  trial  to  pride.  It  is, 
indeed,  no  small  trial  to  the  pride  of  a  highly-cul- 
tured man  of  powerful  intellect  to  feel  that  the  poorest 
peasant  is  fully  as  capable  as  himself  of  performing 
the  highest  actions — those  which  are  the  special  pre- 
rogative of  man — namely,  the  exercise  of  rational 
meritorious  volition  and  choice.  If  there  is  such  a 
thing  as  morality,  it  is  beyond  comparison  as  to  value 
with  mere  intellectual  culture  or  capacity,  and  it 
necessarily  follows  that  a  poor  paralyzed  old  woman 
sitting  in  a  chimney-corner  may,  by  her  good  aspira- 


20  Morality  against  Pantheism, 

tions  and  volitions,  be  repeatedly  performing  mental 
acts  compared  with  which  the  discovery  by  Newton 
of  the  law  of  gravitation  is  as  nothing.  Again,  in 
free-will  and  morality,  we  have  that  which  cannot  be 
the  result  of  mere  brute  inheritance.  Conceptions 
of  time  and  space  may  be  plausibly  represented  as 
structural  results  of  a  practically  infinite  brute  an- 
cestry which  has  been  submitted  to  conditions  of 
time  and  space,  but  at  any  rate  such  ancestry  was 
never  submitted  to  conditions  of  moral  responsibility. 
Thus  the  recognition  of  the  human  will  renders  ab- 
surd the  conception  that  man  can  have  developed 
from  a  brute."  * 

President  Edwards's  treatise  on  the  Will  has  long 
been  regarded  as  a  most  masterly  presentation  of  the 
predestinarian  argument.  Dr.  Whedon,  however,  in 
his  work  entitled  "  The  Freedom  of  the  Will,"  has 
thoroughly  answered  the  sophism  that  the  will  is 
swayed  by  the  strongest  motives,  as  well  as  other 
arguments  of  Edwards.  In  the  chapter  entitled 
"Freedom  involves  not  Atheism,"  he  remarks,  "that 
it  will  be  very  difficult  to  find  exceptions  to  the  rule 
that  all  atheists,  pantheists,  materialists,  and  pro- 
fessed fatalists  are  necessitarians."  Again  :  "  The 
doctrine  that  there  is  no  soul  and  no  will  exempt 
from  that  same  invariable  sequency  which  rules  the 
domains  of  physics,  that  there  is  no  God  who  does 
not  come  under  the  same  inflexible  inalternative  law 
with  matter,  levels  the  whole  into  one  system  of  fatal- 
istic materialism.  The  subjection  of  human  volitions 
to  the  same  law  eliminates  responsibility,  dispenses 

*  Mivart's  Lessons  from  Nature,  p.  380. 


Morality  against  Pantheism.  21 

with  retribution,  divine  government,  and  human  im- 
mortality." 

Dr.  Whedon  shows  that  freedom  must  be  held  to 
exist  until  an  unanswerable  argument  has  proved  its 
non-existence;  that  the  common  consciousness  of 
mankind  affirms  it ;  and  that  moral  responsibility  re- 
quires it. 

Thus  the  consciousness  of  free-will,  uncontradicted 
by  facts  of  physical  science  or  by  metaphysical  rea- 
soning, protests  against  Pantheism,  and  proclaims 
that  the  personality  of  a  Supreme  God,  and  not  fate, 
is  the  true  fountain  of  force. 

"The  moral  consciousness,"  says  Pressense,*  to 
whom  we  are  indebted  for  our  train  of  thought,  "pro- 
tests yet  more  loudly ;  it  could  not  survive  the  sup- 
pression of  Divine  order.  It  affirms  it  with  author- 
ity every  time  that  it  enjoins  the  right  on  us  and 
upbraids  us  for  the  wrong ;  for  what  it  commands  is 
often  that  which  we  have  no  will  to  do,  and  what  it 
condemns  is  that  which  our  inclination  has  prompted. 
It  is  not,  then,  the  simple  echo  of  our  hearts  ;  it 
speaks  in  the  name  of  a  law,  which  is  neither  that  of 
our  senses  nor  of  our  mobile  and  impassioned  soul ; 
it  brings  us  into  the  presence  of  another  than  our- 
selves, of  one  greater  than  ourselves,  who  has  an  ab- 
solute right  over  us,  and  its  '  T/iou  shalf  sounds  yet 
above  the  wrecks  of  all  our  other  convictions,  estab- 
lishing in  us  an  immovable  certitude.  .  .  .  Yes,  the 
human  soul  believes  in  liberty,  in  responsibility,  in 

*  "  The  life  and  Times  of  Jesus  Christ,"  by  E.  de  Pressens6,  D.D. 


22  Morality  against  Pant  J  it  ism. 

law  and  its  sanction ;  man  believes  that  there  is 
something  which  is  the  good,  the  true,  the  right, 
and  some  one  who  enjoins  this  upon  him,  renders 
it  possible  to  him,  and  watches  over  its  accomplish- 
ment. Pantheism,  applied  truly  and  upon  a  large 
scale,  even  by  its  best  representatives,  would  cover 
with  a  plenary  indulgence  all  infamies,  would  un- 
chain wholly  the  powers  of  evil,  and  render  life  im- 
possible." 

The  author  just  quoted  exhibits  the  unreasoning 
inconsistency  of  pantheism  in  recognizing  no  cause 
free  and  transcendent  to  the  world  by  referring  to  its 
fundamental  principles.  "  For  it,"  he  says,  "  there  is 
no  other  absolute  than  the  universe  arriving  at  the 
consciousness  of  itself  in  our  own  reason.  But  evi- 
dently universal  life  does  not  begin  with  this  highest 
form;  it  does  not  open  with  thought,  which  is  rather 
like  the  flower  of  this  vast  development,  for  it  is  not 
the  cause  of  it,  but  the  product.  That  which  is  at  the 
starting-pomt,  at  the  origin  of  things,  is  not  the  idea, 
not  mind,  but  abstract  being, —  an  existence  so  vague 
as  to  be  akin  to  non-existence.  Thus  the  greater  re- 
sults from  the  less,  life  from  death  or  from  inertia ;  the 
immense  column  of  universal  existence  springs  from 
sheer  nonentity.  For  what,  in  definite  terms,  is  the 
abstractBeingof  Hegelianism,or  that  fathomless  abyss 
whence  the  universe  is  made  to  arise,  if  it  is  not  non- 
entity? Thus  the  famous  axiom,  ex  nihilo  nihil,  cannot 
be  applied  to  Christians,  or  to  the  spiritualistic  phi- 
losophers who  place  absolute  being  before  the  world, 
but  it  falls  with  its  whole  weight  on  the  systems  of 


Deism.  23 

pantheism.  It  is  idle  to  suppose  myriads  of  centuries 
bringing  forms  of  existence  out  of  this  nonentity; 
time,  as  has  been  well  said,  has  nothing  to  do  with 
the  question.  Millions  of  years  cannot  make  fruitful 
that  which  has  itself  no  existence.  Behold,  then,  a 
grand  and  gorgeous  effect, — the  world  with  its  har- 
monies, humanity  with  its  highest  life,  born  not  even 
of  Thales's  drop  of  water,  but  of  a  void!  Reason 
protests  against  such  a  doctrine,  and  to  accept  it  she 
must  deny  the  principle  of  causality,  which  is  one  of 
her  essential  elements." 

The  system  of  deism,  in  contrast  with  that  of 
pantheism,  admits  a  Great  First  Cause,  intelligent  and 
wise  and  powerful,  the  Author  of  the  universe  and 
its  laws.  It  objects  to  religious  faith,  however,  so 
far  as  it  relates  to  a  supernatural  intervention  into 
the  established  order  of  nature.  In  other  words,  the 
deist  admits  the  existence  of  a  Creator,  but  denies 
the  possibility  of  miracles.  Two  arguments  have 
been  adduced  to  sustain  this  position:  ist.  That  the 
perfection  and  order  of  the  universe  imply  the  im- 
mutability of  the  laws  of  nature.  2d.  That  the  very 
perfection  of  Divine  wisdom  forbids  the  idea  that  if 
is  necessary  for  God  to  interfere  with  his  own  laws  or 
retouch  his  own  work.  In  both  these  arguments 
there  is  an  implied  supremacy  given  to  the  laws  of 
nature,  as  if  something  more  was  meant  by  the  term 
law  than  a  mode  of  being  or  order  of  sequence, — as 
if,  indeed,  the  laws  of  nature  were  superior  to  the 
Lawgiver  who  ordained  them.  As  to  the  first,  it  is 
evident,  upon  the  principle  of  deism,  that  before  the 


24      Divine  Freedom  against  Immutable  Law. 

creation  of  the  world  there  was  law  or  condition  in 
the  Divine  existence  itself.  God  was  sovereign,  free, 
and  independent.  The  free  personality  of  the  Divine 
mind  was  governed  by  essential  Holiness  and  Wisdom. 
If  in  creating  the  world  God  has  alienated  his  own 
liberty  or  enchained  his  own  independence,  the  Divine 
order  has  been  changed,  and  law  is  not  immutable. 
If  the  laws  of  the  creation  are  immutable  laws  of 
necessity,  and  not  the  ordinary  exercise  of  creative 
freedom,  then  the  independence  of  the  Divine  exist- 
ence has  been  destroyed  by  the  act  of  creation,  and 
that  which  was  the  law  of  nature  is  not  now  the  law. 
The  truth  is,  that  the  phrase  "immutable  laws  of 
nature"  is  wholly  incongruous  when  applied  to  the 
subject  of  supernatural  interventions  of  Divine  power. 
Such  a  phrase  may  suit  an  atheist,  but  not  one  who 
believes  in  a  personal  and  fatherly  God.  The  very  be- 
ginning of  nature,  or  creation  itself,  was  a  miracle. 
Each  successive  step  of  the  world's  progress,  as  re- 
vealed to  us  in  the  rocks,  or  in  the  Bible,  was  miracu- 
lous. Life  itself  is  continued  in  absolute  dependence 
on  Divine  sovereignty.  Besides,  all  the  so-called  laws 
of  nature  are  not  only  reciprocal  and  interdependent, 
but  have  a  certain  rank  or  subordination,  one  to  the 
other,  and  all  are  under  the  rule  of  Divine  free  agency. 
Thus  the  law  of  gravity  acts  upon  a  stone  in  my 
hand,  but  the  law  of  freedom  iii  my  will  resists  gravi- 
tation, and  may  cause  the  stone  to  mount  high  in 
the  air,  in  opposition  to  the  law  of  gravity  It  would 
be  childish  folly  to  argue  against  the  reality  of  such 
a  phenomenon  that  the  order  of  the  universe  implies 


Creation  not  originally  Complete,  25 

immutable  law!  Then  my  own  volition  is  exerted 
under  Divine  supervision,  and  I  am  accountable  for 
its  exercise.  "  The  supernatural  is  the  freedom  of 
God,  and  it  can  only  be  abandoned,  or  at  least  its 
possibility  contested,  by  abandoning  the  idea  of  a 
personal  God." 

Respecting  the  argument  that  God's  wisdom  for- 
bids the  necessity  of  interference,  as  if  to  retouch  his 
own  work,  Pressense  remarks,  **The  objection  would 
hold  good  if  we  belonged  to  the  world  of  necessity 
instead  of  to  that  of  freedom."  But  creation  was  not 
complete  from  the  beginning.  Successive  interposi- 
tions of  creative  power  manifestly  point  to  the  de- 
velopment of  some  plan  not  fully  completed,  and  the 
appearance  of  man  in  the  last  geologic  age  elevates 
that  plan  to  the  sphere  of  moral  and  spiritual  life. 
The  deistic  argument  is  as  much  opposed  by  the 
teaching  of  science  as  by  the  Scripture  history.  The 
latter  shows  us  that  the  free  creature  had  to  de- 
termine his  own  destiny, — a  fact  which  implies  the 
possibility  of  evil.  It  is  not  God's  own  work  which 
He  corrects  when  He  miraculously  interferes  in  re- 
demption, but  a  helping  hand  which  He  holds  out  to 
the  creature  made  miserable  by  his  own  fault.  *'  If  the 
fall  is  but  a  delusion,  if  evil  is  only  the  imperfection 
necessary  to  the  harmony  of  the  whole,  I  can  under- 
stand the  objections  of  the  deist  to  miracles.  But 
if  it  is  true  that  God's  free  creature  is  unhappy 
through  his  own  fault,  and  has  placed  himself  under 
the  yoke  of  a  calamity  as  tremendous  as  it  is  terri- 
ble, in  the   name  of  what  principle  can  those  who 


26  The  Freedom  of  God  a  Reality, 

recognize  a  sovereign  Deity  set  aside  the  super- 
natural? After  all,  miracle,  which  must  not  be  re- 
garded exclusively  in  its  secondary  manifestations,  is 
nothing  else  than  the  intervention  of  the  Divine  free- 
dom to  save  man,  conformably  with  the  laws  of  moral 
order.  What?  You  admit  that  God  is  free,  is  master 
of  the  creation  which  He  called  out  of  nothing,  and 
yet  to  this  free  God  you  deny  the  right  to  arise  from 
his  rest  to  restore  his  fallen  creature,  because,  to  this 
end,  He  must  needs  break  the  chain  of  cause  and 
effect,  and  introduce  a  novel  fact  in  history?  But 
if  He  cannot  save,  how  could  He,  then,  create?  Crea- 
tion is  apparently  an  act  of  love,  which  reveals  the 
depth  of  his  being.  If  you  question  his  sovereign 
right  to  save  his  creature  when  fallen  from  happi- 
ness, you  refuse  Him  that  which  is  the  very  essence 
of  his  being;  you  impugn  his  moral  immutability, 
which  must  be  in  no  wise  confounded  with  immo- 
bility or  inertia.  The  supernatural  is,  then,  not  only 
the  freedom  of  God,  it  is  also  his  love.  I  know  no 
other  definition  of  it  more  rigorously  exact.  Of 
what  avail  would  his  freedom  be  to  God,  in  the  sense 
in  which  it  is  accorded  by  theism,  if  he  were  unable 
to  use  that  freedom  for  good?" 

In  the  estimation  of  true  science,  one  fact  is  worth 
a  thousand  theories,  and  the  revelation  of  the  super- 
natural is,  and  must  be,  a  question  of  fact,  to  be 
judged  of  in  the  same  manner  as  other  facts,  by 
historical  testimony  or  experimental  verification.  If 
intercourse  with  heaven  may  be  realized  consciously 
by  the    devout    and    prayerful    spirit,   as    the    Bible 


Christian  Evidence  various.  27 

teaches,  then  experience  is  the  quickest  as  well  as 
the  surest  test.  If  it  can  be  proved  that  God  has 
made  a  communication  of  spiritual  ideas  and  prin- 
ciples, all  our  theorizing  respecting  the  possibility 
of  such  a  communication  is  at  an  end. 

The  evidences  of  Christian  truth  upon  which  faith 
is  based,  are  regarded  by  many  as  among  the  trials 
of  our  state  of  probation.  With  such  a  view  of  them 
they  can  never  be  considered  as. complete  or  final. 
Each  age  must  review  them  from  its  own  stand- 
point, every  individual  must  examine  them  for  him- 
self. What  will  produce  conviction  with  one  mind 
will  not  with  another.  To  one,  the  external  authen- 
tication of  miracles  and  prophecy  is  all-sufficient  to 
lead  to  his  submission  to  the  authority  of  Holy  Writ. 
To  another,  the  supernatural  grandeur  and  moral 
excellence  of  the  doctrines  themselves,  or  of  the  life 
of  Jesus,  are  all -convincing.  Another  regards  the 
actual  results  as  demonstrative  of  Divine  power. 
With  many,  perhaps  the  most,  the  authority  and 
influence  of  others — parents,  teachers,  legislators — 
lead  to  a  ready  acceptance  of  the  truth.  The  Bible 
itself,  whatever  theologians  may  have  done,  rests  its 
claims  on  no  single  evidence,  or  class  of  evidences, 
besides  the  saving  influence  of  the  truth  it  reveals 
upon  the  hearts  and  lives  of  those  who  receive  it. 
Jesus  said,  "  By  their  fruits  ye  sha.ll  know  them."  St. 
Paul  declared  the  gospel  to  be  the  power  of  God 
unto  salvation.  And  St.  Peter  addressed  his  fellow- 
Christians  as  those  who  had  received  the  end  of  their 
faith,  even  the  salvation  of  their  souls.     Throughout 


28  opposition  various. 

the  Scriptures,  both  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments, 
this  experience  of  the  power  of  truth  upon  the  affec- 
tions and  conduct  is  continually  referred  to.  To 
many,  however,  the  allusion  to  this  kind  of  evidence 
is  as  a  strange  and  unknown  tongue;  it  becomes 
necessary,  therefore,  to  meet  the  doubts  and  objec- 
tions which  may  be  urged  against  the  Christian  re- 
cords, that  men  may  be  encouraged  to  accept  and 
rely  upon  the  truth  revealed. 

The  intensity  and  form  of  the  opposition  against 
the  Scriptures  vary  at  different  times  according  to 
the  amount  of  intellectual  and  critical  activity  em- 
ployed, or  the  moral  character  of  the  objectors.  No 
man  can  live  in  Christian  civilization  without  absorb- 
ing, it  may  be  insensibly  to  himself,  some  of  the  light 
which  is  around  him.  Thus  it  happens  that  the  un- 
belief of  the  present  day  differs  in  many  respects  from 
that  of  the  last  century.  It  is  more  mild  and  con- 
ciliatory. It  is  not  disgraced  by  such  low  vulgarity. 
It  is  not  made  a  matter  of  political  agitation.  It  does 
not  ridicule  Christianity,  nor  does  it  altogether  deny 
the  facts  of  the  Christian  religion.  It  assumes  a  tone 
of  candor  and  morality  and  fair  dealing,  and  seems  to 
wish  to  be  recognized  as  an  angel  of  light.  It  often 
becomes  ultra-spiritualistic.  There  are,  of  course, 
localities  where  the  old  virulence  and  vulgarity  break 
out  under  the  guidance  of  men  who  are  unfamiliar 
with  the  progress  of  modern  ideas;  but  the  skeptical 
literature  of  the  present  day  is  very  different  from 
that  of  the  past.  The  spirit  and  tendency  are  the 
same,  but  the  manner  is  different.     Every  age  has 


New  Forms  of  Objection  improbable.  29 

had  its  own  form  of  doubt  or  unbelief,  which  has 
been  met  and  overcome  by  the  advocates  of  truth, 
yet  every  succeeding  age  has  renewed  the  contest 
on  the  same  or  other  grounds,  with  the  same  result. 
The  gospel  of  peace  and  good  will  is  still  the  rallying- 
point  of  strife  and  division,  and  will  be,  doubtless,  till 
the  probation  of  the  world  is  ended.  The  principal 
ground  of  conflict  now  is  the  consistency  of  Faith 
and  Science.  The  deductions  of  Natural  Science  being 
regarded  as  fixed  facts,  men  are  inclined  to  make 
them  a  standard  of  all  truth.  It  is  therefore  neces- 
sary to  show  the  harmony  and  consistency  existing 
between  the  Book  of  Nature  and  that  volume  which 
claims  to  be  the  Book  of  God's  revelation  in  human 
language. 

Such  has  been  the  progress  of  science  and  criticism 
during  the  present  century  that  the  materials  for 
settling  this  question  are  doubtless  complete.  Enough 
of  nature  is  known  to  enable  us  to  judge  of  the  har- 
mony of  its  principles  and  tendencies  with  the  teach- 
ings of  Scripture,  and  no  new  ideas  on  subjects 
traversed  by  the  Christian  religion,  judging  from  the 
present  state  of  scientific  knowledge,  are  likely  to 
appear.  Mr.  Farrar  justly  remarks,  "  If  the  present 
examination  of  some  of  the  subtler  forms  of  matter 
or  of  force,  and  of  their  existence  in  other  globes 
of  the  solar  system  than  our  own,  should  lead  here- 
after to  a  generalization  which  shall  extend  natural 
philosophy  as  widely  beyond  its  present  limits  as  the 
discovery  made  by  Newton  beyond  those  of  his  pre- 
decessors, yet  these  discoveries  can  have  no  bearing, 
3* 


30  The  Plan  proposed, 

favorable  or  unfavorable  to  religion,  distinct  in  kind 
from  that  of  present  ones.  If  even  a  still  mightier 
stride  should  be  taken,  and  physiology  be  able  to  lay 
bare  the  subtle  processes  through  which  mind  acts 
on  body,  yet  the  difficulty  would  only  be  an  en- 
hanced form  of  that  which  is  already  used  to  dis- 
credit the  spirituality  and  immortality  of  the  soul."* 
We  address  ourselves,  therefore,  to  the  consideration 
of  the  scientific  consistency  of  the  leading  doctrines 
of  the  Bible.  As  merchants  sometimes  try  their 
goods  by  holding  them  up  before  the  sun,  we  shall 
endeavor  to  examine  these  doctrines  by  the  light 
of  modern  science.  We  pursue  this  plan,  not  be- 
cause we  consider  science  to  be  the  test  of  spiritual 
truth,  but  because  it  affords  abundant  confirmations 
of  that  truth.  Such  confirmations  will  remove  many 
difficulties  which  have  existed  in  sincere  minds,  and 
lead  to  a  better  appreciation  of  more  positive  evi- 
dence. Christianity  asserts  authority  over  religious 
belief  in  virtue  of  its  being  a  supernatural  com- 
munication from  God.  It  professes  to  teach  positive 
truth  in  reference  to  religion.  Has  science  proved 
its  revealings  to  be  untrue,  or  can  it  do  so?  Are  the 
doctrines  taught  by  the  professed  revelation  con- 
sistent with  the  truths  arrived  at  by  demonstration 
and  experiment?  Such  are  the  questions  we  propose 
to  discuss. 

*  Critical  History  of  Free  Thought. 


CHAPTER   II. 
THE  VARIATIONS  OF*  INFIDELITY. 


'  Sacred  and  inspired  Theology  is  the  sabbath  of  all  our  labors." — BACon, 


(31) 


CONTENTS. 

Christian  Truth  ancient — Reason  without  Revelation  tends  to  Panthe* 
ism,  Dualism,  Materialism,  or  Pyrrhonism,  as  seen  in  Ancient  Phi- 
losophies— Opposition  to  Truth  the  native  Temper  of  Heathenism 
and  Infidelity — Four  Crises  or  Epochs  in  the  Contest  against  Truth, 
and  their  Characteristics — Present  Infidelity  an  Attempt  to  revive 
Ancient  Cosmogonies — Has  forsaken  the  Scientific  Principles  of 
Bacon — Various  Forms  of  Skepticism  prevalent. 


(32) 


CHAPTER    II. 

THE  VARIATIONS   OF  SKEPTICISM. 

A  BRIEF  review  of  the  efforts  of  scientific  inquirers 
to  obtain  positive  religious  knowledge,  and  of  the  op- 
position which  their  speculations  maintained  against 
the  Christian  system,  will  throw  light  upon  the  tend- 
encies and  spirit  of  the  present  age,  and  show  the 
necessity  of  the  work  before  us.  Whatever  we  may 
think  of  the  scientific  consistency  of  the  teachings 
of  Scripture,  the  candid  verdict  of  the  historian  will 
be  that  infidelity  has  turned  very  far  aside  from  the 
fundamental  principles  of  true  science. 

The  sacred  books  of  the  Christian  religion  contain 
the  earliest  ideas  of  the  human  race,  and  the  history 
of  the  development  of  the  first  germs  of  religious 
thought.  It  is  evident,  therefore,  that  the  patriarchal 
faith,  as  exhibited  in  the  Scriptures,  must  have  tinc- 
tured all  subsequent  histories  and  philosophies,  and 
given  origin  to  many  thoughts  which  would  other- 
wise have  been  unknown.  In  this  way  many  ancient 
traditions  originated,  retaining  more  or  less  of  truth. 
It  would  be  a  tedious,  yet  not  impossible,  task  to 
cull  out  of  the  various  systems  and  traditions  of  man- 
kind the  ideas  which  show  a  common  origin.  Much 
that  is  good  and  true  has  clung  to  teaching  other- 
wise fanciful  or  impure,  and  if  we  could  eliminate  the 

{33) 


34  Origin  of  Philosophic  Theories. 

product  of  imagination  from  the  religious  ideas  of 
nations,  the  remainder  would  correspond  to  the 
teaching  of  the  earlier  books  of  the  Bible. 

The  history  of  philosophy  proves  that  whenever 
human  reason  has  attempted  to  solve  the  question 
of  the  origin  of  things,  which  is  fundamental  to  re- 
ligion, without  taking  for  the  basis  of  its  efforts  the 
truth  contained  in  the  Scriptures,  it  has  become  in- 
volved in  the  speculations  of  one  or  other  of  the 
following  theories:  Pantheism,  which  beholds  in  finite 
beings  only  forms,  or  modifications,  of  the  infinite 
substance;  Dualism,  which  divides  being,  or  sub- 
stance, between  two  uncreated  principles ;  Material- 
ism, or  Atheism,  which  in  place  of  the  Infinite  One 
substitutes  a  sort  of  indefinite  multiplicity  by  the 
concurrence  of  atoms ;  or  Pyrrhonism,  which  is  syn- 
onymous with  universal  skepticism,  and  doubts  all 
things. 

These  theories  are  not  new.  In  Grecian  literature 
the  power  of  thought  developed  itself  in  all  direc- 
tions, and  it  is  remarkable  that  all  subsequent  sys- 
tems, even  in  the  most  modern  times,  so  far  as  they 
rest  on  specific  fundamental  differences,  may  be  recog- 
nized as  anticipated  by  the  Greek  philosophers.  Even 
these  latter  were  dependent  upon  germs  of  thought, 
which  suggests  to  us  the  profound  culture  of  a  very 
early  period  of  the  world's  history.  The  Oriental 
philosophy,  coming  down  to  us  from  most  ancient 
times,  and  embracing  the  speculations  of  the  human 
mind  in  India,  China,  Persia,  Chaldea,  Phoenicia,  and 
Egypt,  presents  a  perfect  parallel  with  the  systems 


Temper  of  Heathenism  and  htfidelity.  35 

of  Greece,  which,  in  connection  with  the  early  history 
of  that  country,  justifies  the  conclusion  that  the  East- 
ern philosophy  was  the  source  of  all  subsequent 
speculation. 

Pantheism,  in  its  most  complete  form,  is  found  in 
the  Vedas,  or  sacred  books  of  India.  It  is  found,  also, 
in  the  philosophies  of  China  and  Egypt.  In  Greece 
it  seems  to  have  been  first  taught  by  Pythagoras. 

The  Zendavesta  of  Persia  is  the  oldest  exponent 
of  dualism,  and  represents  the  universe  under  the 
notion  of  a  grand  conflict.  The  dualism  of  Chal- 
dean philosophy  exhibited  it  as  an  immutable  har- 
mony. This  theory  shows  itself  in  the  Grecian  phi- 
losophy of  Thales  and  Anaxagoras.  Atheism,  or 
materialism,  distinguishes  some  of  the  Buddhist 
schools  in  India,  and  appears  in  Greece  in  Anaxi 
mander  and  Epicurus. 

Perfect  skepticism  cannot  be  met  in  argument  by 
human  logic,  for  every  attempt  to  do  so  implies  a 
certain  principle  on  which  it  rests,  and  skepticism 
admits  of  no  certain  principle.  It  is  invincibly  repu- 
diated by  human  nature,  however,  as  life  repels  death, 
for  absolute  skepticism  would  be  the  very  extinction 
of  reason.  Yet  this  doctrine  was  taught  by  the 
Sophists,  by  Pyrrho,  Sextus,  and  others. 

While  the  religious  ideas  and  histories  of  the  Bible 
were  confined  to  the  Jewish  nation,  or  transmitted  to 
other  lands  by  patriarchal  tradition,  little  or  no  op- 
position was  excited  against  them.  The  founders  of 
philosophic  systems  borrowed  and  moulded  and 
altered  these  teachings  at  pleasure,  to  suit  their  own 


36  Causes  of  Opposition. 

notions  and  designs ;  but  when,  in  the  fullness  of 
time,  the  patriarchal  seed  brought  forth  its  fruit  for 
the  healing  of  the  nations,  and  Christianity  set  up 
its  claims  as  a  universal  and  positive  religion,  and 
asserted  its  right  to  impose  limits  to  the  speculations 
of  the  human  mind,  a  conflict  might  be  naturally  an- 
ticipated. The  dispersion  of  the  Jews  during  the  two 
centuries  preceding  the  Christian  era,  also  provoked 
opposition,  and  the  barbarous  persecutions  of  Anti- 
ochus,  in  his  attempt  to  exterminate  the  religion  of 
the  Jews  and  substitute  that  of  the  Greeks,*  is  a  pic- 
ture of  the  native  temper  of  heathenism  and  infidelity 
which  history  has  often  seen  repeated.  The  gospel 
breathes  the  spirit  of  peace  and  brotherhood.  It 
teaches  good  will  towards  men.  Yet  its  Divine 
Founder,  foreseeing  the  antagonisms  which  would 
be  excited  against  it,  said,  "  Suppose  ye  that  I  am 
come  to  give  peace  on  earth  ?  I  tell  you  nay ;  but 
rather  division."  The  natural  dislike  of  a  sinful 
heart  to  the  moral  standard  of  the  gospel,  the  influ- 
ence of  prejudice  or  self-interest,  the  disgust  excited 
by  the  corrupt  lives  of  hypocritical  and  formal  pro^ 
fessors,  the  intolerance  and  heathenish  spirit  of  a 
corrupt  church,  the  intellectual  doubts  infused  by 
some  criticism  or  apparent  scientific  inconsistency,  or 
some  other  cause,  real  or  fanciful,  excites  opposition ; 
and  it  is  amazing  to  see  with  what  virulence  and  zeal 
Christianity  is  denounced,  and  often  persecuted.  Yet 
nothing  has  been  substituted  in  place  of  the  teaching 

*  T.  Maccabees,  i.  44;   TI.  Mac.  vi. 


Conflict  with  Heathenism.  37 

of  Scripture,  by  any  skeptical  system,  down  to  the 
present  day,  save  some  modification  of  the  theories 
already  referred  to,  none  of  which  have  any  scientific 
basis  whatever,  but  are  purely  speculative. 

Four  crises  of  Christian  faith,  in  its  struggles  with 
infidelity,  have  been  enumerated,  as  follows  :  ist  The 
conflict  with  heathenism  and  heathen  philosophy  from 
the  second  to  the  fourth  century.  2d.  The  skeptical 
tendencies  of  scholasticism  in  the  twelfth  and  thir- 
teenth centuries.  3d.  The  infidelity  attending  the 
revival  of  literature  in  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  cen- 
turies. 4th.  Modern  infidelity  in  three  forms, — Eng- 
lish deism,  French  infidelity,  and  German  rational- 
ism. The  result  of  these  forms  the  skepticism  of  the 
present  day.* 

The  first  of  these  struggles  grew  out  of  the  tend- 
encies of  the  heathen  world  to  absolute  unbelief,  to 
bigoted  attachment  to  a  national  creed,  to  philosophic 
theorizing,  and  to  a  mystical  inclination  for  magic 
rites. 

The  Epicurean  school  of  philosophers  inclined  to 
a  total  disbelief  of  the  supernatural.  Lucretius  was 
among  the  best  of  them  ;  but,  notwithstanding  the 
effort  sometimes  made  to  put  a  favorable  interpreta- 
tion upon  his  language,  the  world  was  to  him  a  scene 
unguided  by  Providence,  and  death  uncheered  by  the 
hope  of  a  future  life.  Mr.  Pope's  "  Essay  on  Man" 
is  a  reproduction  of  the  skepticism  of  this  school. 
Another  example,  of  an  opposite  type,  was   Lucian, 

*  Farrar's  Critical  History  of  Free  Thought. 


38  Christian  Apologists. 

in  the  second  century,  the  prototype  of  Voltaire.  He 
seems  to  have  had  a  universal  ridicule  for  religion, 
and  delighted  in  farcical  caricature.  It  has  been  well 
remarked  that  human  society  has  no  worse  foe  than 
a  universal  scoffer,  since  such  a  one  destroys  not 
superstition  only,  but  the  very  faculty  of  belief  To 
such  minds  Christianity  is  a  mark  for  the  same  jests 
as  other  creeds. 

The  attachment  to  heathen  worship  and  magic 
rites,  and  a  tendency  to  philosophic  theorizing,  gave 
rise  to  what  is  known  as  the  eclectic  school  of  Alex- 
andria, or  Neoplatonism,  —  the  counterpart  of  our 
modern  spiritualism. 

Lucian,  Celsus,  Porphyry,  Hierocles,  Julian  were 
the  writers  who  attacked  Christianity  during  the 
period  referred  to ;  and  their  arguments  have  been 
repeated  in  every  subsequent  age.  The  flippant  wit 
of  Lucian,  which  attributes  religion  to  imposture,  is 
repeated  in  Voltaire  and  Paine.  The  doubts  of  Cel- 
sus reappear  in  the  English  deists.  The  criticism  of 
Porphyry  is  reproduced  by  modern  exegesis.  The 
disposition  to  regard  Christianity  as  a  product  of  the 
human  mind,  unsuited  for  men  of  superior  knowledge 
and  progress,  is  the  parallel  to  Julian.  Each  of 
these  champions  of  infidelity  was  met  and  his  argu- 
ments fully  overturned  by  the  Christian  apologists 
of  that  day.  Tertullian,  Justin,  Origen,  Eusebius, 
Athanasius,  and  Augustine,  with  many  others,  proved 
competent  defenders  of  the  faith.  Yet  the  victory 
of  the  early  c"u  rch  was  not  so  much  due  to  intel- 
lectual defenses  as  to  moral  influences.    The  common 


Scholastic  Skcpticisin.  39 

belief  in  magic  and  in  oracles  prevented  the  full 
force  of  the  external  evidence  of  miracles  and  pro- 
phecy ;  but  the  internal  evidences  were  most  potent, 
— the  doctrine  of  an  atoning  Messiah  filling  the 
heart's  deepest  longings,  and  the  lives  of  Christians 
embodying  heavenly  virtues.  Thus  will  it  ever  be. 
The  effect  of  this  wonderful  scheme  of  reconciliation 
which  the  Bible  reveals  upon  the  hearts  and  lives  of 
those  who  truly  accept  it,  is  the  strongest  proof  of  its 
Divine  origin.  "  If  a  question  of  comparison  be- 
tween this  book  and  any  other  were  started,  Christ's 
own  standard  of  judgment  would  best  meet  the  case  ; 
looking  forward  to  the  false  prophets  who  should 
seek  to  undo  his  work.  He  said,  '  By  their  fruits  ye 
shall  know  them.'  Modern  civilization  should  be  the 
field  of  research  on  both  sides.  Which  book  has 
done  most  for  liberty,  justice,  progress  ?  Which 
book  has  most  persistently  branded,  defied,  and 
threatened  every  form  of  tyranny  ?  Which  book  has 
done  most  for  the  poor  man  ?  These  inquiries  may 
be  put  in  no  declarriatory  spirit,  but  simply  with  a 
view  to  the  discovery  of  facts.  The  test  is  fair.  It 
is  marked  by  a  high"  sense  of  honesty  on  the  part  of 
Jesus  Christ.  He  adopts  no  method  of  overriding 
human  judgment,  but,  on  the  contrary,  elevates  the 
discriminative  faculty  of  man,  and  in  a  manner  throws 
the  responsibility  of  the  conclusion  upon  men's  own 
common  sense.  This  is  not  the  plan  of  necromancers, 
soothsayers,  and  self-elected  prophets.  Christ  appeals 
to  his  own  works  and  the  works  of  others,  asking  the 
verdict  of  the  world  upon  their  respective  claims  to 


40  EnglisJi  Deism. 

truth  and  veneration.  There  is  no  cunning  leger- 
demain, no  rebuke  of  human  severity  in  the  exam- 
ination,  no  indulgence  bespoken  on  behalf  of  the 
worker  :  the  words  and  works  are  before  you  ;  judge, 
then,  said  Christ,  and  'believe  me  for  the  very  works' 
sake.' "  * 

During  the  Dark  Ages,  men  were  oppressed  with 
the  double  incubus  of  feudalism  and  the  popedom; 
but  about  the  twelfth  century  there  was  both  a  social 
and  an  intellectual  struggle  for  freedom,  which  finally 
culminated  in  the  revival  of  literature  and  in  the  Re- 
formation. At  this  time  skepticism  revived,  and  the 
idea  of  progress  in  religion,  in  the  sense  that  Chris- 
tianity is  to  be  replaced  by  a  better  religion,  was  ad- 
vanced. Christianity  was  also  compared  with  other 
religions,  so  as  to  attempt  to  obliterate  its  peculiari- 
ties, and  the  leading  principles  of  pantheism  were  re- 
asserted. The  great  medical  school  of  Padua,  and 
the  medical  philosophy  of  the  Arabian  Averroes,  were 
the  chief  sources  of  pantheism  at  this  time, — after- 
wards more  fully  taught  by  Des'cartes  and  Spinosa. 

English  deism  flourished  at  the  close  of  the  sev- 
enteenth and  the  first  half  of  the  eighteenth  century. 
It  allowed  the  existence  of  a  Deity,  and  of  the  re- 
ligion of  the  moral  conscience,  but  denied  a  revela- 
tion. This  system  called  forth  a  number  of  writers 
into  the  arena.  Toland,  Collins,  Shaftesbury,  Wool- 
ston,  Bolingbroke,  and  Hume  were  its  champions. 
These   men    assailed   religion  with    coarseness   and 

*  Ecce  Deus. 


French  Infidelity.  41 

bitter  hostility,  but  lacked  a  real  insight  into  the 
nature  of  the  system  which  they  opposed.  They 
argued  against  atheism  and  pantheism  as  well  as 
Christianity,  and  tried  to  reduce  revealed  religion  to 
natural.  Among  the  many  answers  to  this  school  of 
infidels,  Bishop  Butler's  "Analogy"  is  perhaps  the 
most  complete.  Probably  no  book  since  the  times 
of  the  apostles  has  been  so  useful  to  the  church  in 
silencing  unbelievers  and  solving  the  doubts  of  sin- 
cere minds.  But  the  spread  of  infidelity  was  checked 
most  of  all  by  the  extensive  revival  of  spiritual  re- 
ligion associated  with  the  ministry  of  John  Wesley 
and  the  Methodists.  There  are  two  causes  for  infi- 
delity,—  the  one  intellectual,  the  other  emotional. 
There  are  also  two  similar  weapons  against  it.  In- 
tellectual arguments  may  indeed  serve  the  cause  of 
truth ;  but  the  story  of  Christ  crucified,  told  in  all 
simplicity,  will  awake  an  echo  in  the  heart  which 
neutralizes  the  doubts  infused  by  the  deist.  Thus 
when  the  enemy  came  in  like  a  flood,  the  Spirit  of  the 
Lord  lifted  up- a  standard  against  him.  Bishop  But- 
ler's arguments  for  the  head,  and  the  spirit  of  revival 
for  the  heart,  saved  England  and  America  to  religion 
and  civilization. 

French  infidelity  was  an  excessive  reaction  against 
the  evils  of  despotism  in  church  and  state.  Voltaire, 
Diderot,  D'Alembert,  D'Holbach,  Rousseau,  and 
others  studied  in  the  school  of  English  deism,  but 
carried  their  skepticism  to  greater  lengths.  Their 
criticism  was  shallow  and  gross  and  vulgar,  and  the 

effect  of  their  writings  upon  public  morals  was  la- 

4$ 


42  German  Rationalism. 

mentable  in  the  extreme.  Not  only  did  they  destroy 
the  feudalism  which  had  outlived  its  age,  but  they 
also  encouraged  blank  atheism  and  gross  immorality. 
The  results  of  infidelity  in  France  will  ever  remain  a 
warning  to  mankind.  Not  only  was  the  monarchy 
overthrown,  but  religion  was  declared  to  be  obsolete. 
The  churches  were  stripped,  the  images  of  the  Sa- 
viour were  trampled  under  foot,  and  2.  fete  was  held  in 
November,  1793,  in  which  an  opera-dancer  was  made 
to  impersonate  the  goddess  of  Reason,  introduced 
to  the  National  Convention,  led  as  a  deity  to  the  ca- 
thedral, and  received  adoration  from  the  audience. 
The  churches  were  closed,  the  Sabbath  was  abolished, 
and  on  all  the  public  cemeteries  was  placed  the  in- 
scription, "  Death  is  an  eternal  sleep."  Then  followed 
a  scene  of  most  atrocious  murders,  robberies,  and 
licentiousness,  which  made  France  appear  as  if  given 
over  to  a  carnival  of  fiends.  Thomas  Paine's  "Age 
of  Reason"  was  the  direct  outgrowth  of  French  infi- 
delity, which  also  gave  rise  to  the  skepticism  of  Gib- 
bon, Shelley,  Owen,  and  Byron. 

German  rationalism  seems  to  have  been  a  mixture 
of  English  deism  and  French  atheism.  Its  origin  is 
doubtless  to  be  traced  to  the  decay  of  vital  piety  in 
Germany  and  the  dissoluteness  of  the  universities. 
The  upholders  of  this  scheme  assume  certain  general 
principles  as  true  and  consistent  with  reason,  and  re- 
ject or  explain  away  everything  which  seems  to  them 
at  variance  with  their  assumed  standard.  This  stand- 
ard is  said  to  be  the  deductions  of  reason  from  a 
contemplation  of  the  natural   and   moral    order  .0/ 


Modem  Infidelity.  43 

things.  As,  however,  these  deductions  vary  accord- 
inpf  to  the  intellectual  and  moral  standpoint  of  each 
observer,  rationalism  has  no  settled  creed.  It  is  a 
vague,  undefined  system,  whose  adherents  have  no 
agreement  among  themselves,  save  in  the  rejection  of 
a  supernatural  revelation.  Some  of  its  writers,  by 
their  criticisms,  have  made  valuable  additions  to 
Christian  literature,  while  others  are  wholly  skepti- 
cal, attributing  the  origin  of  the  Bible  history  to  im- 
posture or  to  mythical  tradition.  Most  of  the  churches 
of  Germany  seem  to  have  been  occupied  for  a  num- 
ber of  years  by  ministers  who  had  no  genuine  faith 
in  Christianity,  and  maintained  the  scheme  of  rational- 
ism in  order  to  secure  the  pecuniary  profits  of  their 
profession.  The  circumstances  surrounding  the  ad- 
herents of  skepticism  were  never  so  favorable  as 
during  the  prevalence  of  rationalism  in  Germany.  In 
addition  to  a  general  declension  of  piety,  they  had  on 
their  side  literary  prestige,  wealth,  numbers,  and  state 
patronage,  and  they  improved  every  means  in  their 
power  to  propagate  their  views.  Philosophical  sys- 
tems, commentaries,  and  works  on  biblical  criticism, 
grammars,  lexicons,  lectures,  sermons,  tracts,  and  al- 
most every  other  possible  means  of  communication, 
became  vehicles  of  unbelief.  The  purpose  of  the 
German  rationalists  has,  however,  signally  failed,  and 
a  powerful  reaction  in  favor  of  evangelical  religion 
has  taken  place. 

Rationalism,  as  maintained  at  present,  does  not 
coldly  deny  Christianity,  like  the  English  deists,  nor 
flippantly  denounce  it  as  imposture,  like  the  French 


44  Infidelity  no  Novelty, 

infidels,  but  seeks,  after  its  own  fashion,  to  appreciate 
its  beauties  and  its  genius,  and  by  means  of  specu- 
lative criticism  to  separate  what  it  deems  to  be  truth 
from  its  errors.  It  claims  for  the  human  intellect  the 
power  and  the  authority  to  judge  what  is  proper  and 
right  to  be  revealed  from  heaven,  or  to  spurn  the 
claim  of  such  a  revelation.  Its  real  design  is  often 
hidden  beneath  a  mask  of  Christian  profession.  It 
would  substitute  a  metaphysical  pantheism  for  re- 
vealed religion,  while  it  retains  the  language  of  Scrip- 
ture, accommodated  by  means  of  hidden  senses  and 
special  explanations  to  suit  its  own  creed.  Thus, 
with  the  most  thorough  rationalists,  God  means  the 
soul  of  the  universe;  Christ  is  the  ideal  of  humanity; 
the  incarnation  is  the  union  of  the  higher  and  lower 
principles  of  human  nature ;  and  the  atonement  is  the 
reconciliation  of  those  principles  through  struggle 
and  suffering.  Of  course,  to  carry  out  this  design, 
all  that  is  miraculous  in  the  Bible  must  be  explained 
away.  This  they  attempt  to  do  by  resolving  such 
passages  into  accounts  of  unusual  events  mistaken 
for  supernatural,  or  into  a  set  of  symbolical  legends. 
From  such  elements  has  the  infidelity  of  the  present 
day  been  derived.  Some  of  these  elements,  in  the  old 
or  in  a  new  dress,  are  to  be  found  in  every  opposer 
of  Bible  truth.  Some  appear  in  scientific  treatises ; 
others  insinuate  themselves  into  newspaper  and  mag- 
azine literature,  as  well  as  into  history  and  poetry. 
Some  found  creeds,  as  that  of  spiritualism,  so  called. 
Some  relate  to  Christian  doctrines,  and  others  to  the 
criticism  of  the  Scripture  documents.     It  is   mani- 


Heathenism  the  Root  of  Infidelity.  45 

festly  impossible  to  follow  them  through  all  the  wind- 
ings, nor  is  it  necessary,  since  every  point  has  been 
fully  answered.  "  The  oracular  utterances  of  Emer- 
son are  but  a  revival  of  Spinoza's  pantheism ;  the  ab- 
solute religion  of  Theodore  Parker  is  but  a  rehash 
of  the  skepticism  of  the  age  of  scholasticism ;  and 
the  difficulties  of  Colenso  are  the  old  objections  of 
Bruno  Bauer,  long  ago  answered  by  Hengstenberg 
and  other  great  German  scholars."  * 

The  infidel  objections  against  Christianity  and  the 
Christian  record,  notwithstanding  the  assumptions  of 
rationalism,  have  not  been  caused  by  the  discovery 
of  any  scientific  facts,  the  natural  inference  from 
which  required  a  change  or  readjustment  of  doctrine, 
but  are  the  manifestation  of  the  antagonism  of  the 
old  philosophic  cosmogonies.  The  root  of  modern 
skepticism  is  not  new  philosophy,  but  old  heathen- 
ism. Occasional  criticisms  of  interpretation  have  in- 
deed been  made  on  scientific  grounds;  but  these 
cannot  militate  against  the  truth  of  the  history  or 
doctrine.  There  are  necessary  and  natural  imperfec- 
tions attaching  themselves  to  the  language  of  one  age 
when  interpreted  by  others,  which  may  tax  our  in- 
dustry to  ascertain  the  real  meaning  of  the  record, 
but  cannot  overthrow  our  faith.  Divine  truth  is  com- 
municated in  human  language,  but  the  value  of  the 
treasure  is  not  depreciated  by  the  earthen  vessel 
which  contains  it.  The  effort  and  research  necessary 
to  understand  the  Scriptures  are  also  in  perfect  accord 

*  Tullidge's  Triumphs  of  the  Bible. 


4^  Philosophy  of  Bacon. 

ance  with  the  general  order  of  nature,  which  ordains 
that  useful  results  shall  follow  patient  labor. 

The  theories  and  speculations  of  ancient  times 
served  but  to  mystify  and  confound  the  human  intel- 
lect, and  rendered  it  necessary  to  reorganize  the 
methods  of  scientific  research.  This  was  fully  pointed 
out  by  Bacon,  who  inaugurated  that  mode  of  induc- 
tion and  experiment  which  has  done  so  much  to 
enlarge  the  boundaries  of  true  science.  As  false 
science  is  a  sort  of  intellectual  idolatry,  which  pays 
to  error  the  reverence  due  to  truth.  Bacon  gives  the 
name  of  idols  to  the  causes  which  have  retarded  and 
vitiated  science,  as  follows:  I.  Idols  of  the  tribe,  or 
prejudices  common  to  all  men.  2.  Idols  of  the  cave, 
or  individual  prejudices.  3.  Idols  of  the  forum,  or 
the  prejudices  men  reciprocally  communicate  to  each 
other.  4.  Idols  of  the  theatre,  or  the  prejudices 
springing  from  the  ascendency  of  teachers  and  phi- 
losophers. From  these  causes  he  shows  that  there 
had  arisen  both  a  false  contemplation  of  nature  and 
a  false  method  of  demonstration,  to  the  injury  of  real 
science.  He  then  lays  down  the  methods  of  obser- 
vation, classification,  and  induction  which  are  neces- 
sary to  be  followed  in  order  to  promote  true  knowl- 
edge, and  enumerates  the  various  branches  of  science 
to  which  they  are  applicable.  It  may  be  that  this 
philosophy  makes  too  little  •  account  of  deduction, 
and  that  its  psychological  principle  of  sensation  has 
been  pushed  to  excess  by  the  materialistic  school  of 
the  eighteenth  century,  represented  by  Helvetius  and 
D'Holbach ;  yet  it  has  been,  notwithstanding,  the  turn- 


Philosophy  of  Bacon.  47 

ing-point  of  the  human  intellect  from  the  confusion 
of  ancient  learning  to  the  progress  of  the  present. 

With  respect  to  science,  properly  so  called,  as  dis- 
tinguished from  history  and  poesy,  Bacon  teaches 
that  as  there  are  waters  which  spring  from  the  earth 
and  others  which  descend  from  the  skies,  so  there  are 
sciences  which  man  derives  from  the  terrestrial  world, 
and  another  science  which  comes  from  heaven  by 
revelation.  He  declares  that  sacred  and  inspired  the- 
ology is  the  sabbath  of  all  our  labors,  —  the  divine 
day  of  repose  and  consummation  to  the  intelligence. 
He  is  wise  enough  to  teach  that  the  stars  of  philoso- 
phy will  not  guide  the  vessel  of  human  reason  here, 
but  that  we  must  depend  upon  the  divine  needle  for 
justly  shaping  the  course.  He  shows  that  the  use 
of  human  reason  in  matters  of  religion  is  confined  to 
the  explanation  of  mysteries  and  to  deductions  from 
them,  and  relates  chiefly  to  the  interpretation  of  Scrip- 
ture. He  proves  that  our  reason  is  no  criterion  of 
what  God  ought  to  require  of  us.  He  says,  "  We 
are  obliged  to  believe  the  word  of  God,  though  our 
reason  be  shocked  at  it.  For  if  we  should  believe 
only  such  things  as  are  agreeable  to  our  reason,  we 
assent  to  the  matter  and  not  to  the  author,  which  is 
no  more  than  we  do  to  a  suspected  witness."* 

While  Bacon  sought  the  renovation  of  science  by 
sensational  experience,  Descartes  sought  it  in  intel- 
lectual,— the  instinctive  utterances  of  consciousness. 
A  true  philosophy  may  yet  find  a  union  of  the  two 

*  Advancement  of  Learning,  Book  IX. 


48  Modern  Skeptical  Tendencies. 

extremes  of  metaphysical  thought.  It  is  the  chiel 
merit  of  Bacon,  however,  that  he  was  not  so  much  a 
creator  of  theories  as  a  founder  of  methods.  Had 
his  followers  been  content  to  follow  the  path  he  so 
clearly  pointed  out,  the  parallelism  between  the  teach- 
ings of  religion  and  science  would  have  been  more 
generally  acknowledged.  Instead,  however,  of  con- 
fining themselves  to  observation,  classification,  and 
induction,  men  of  scientific  and  literary  tendencies  are 
frequently  found  inventing  cosmogonies  and  univer- 
sal systems,  in  imitation  of  the  ancient  schools,  and 
endeavoring  to  compel  the  facts  of  modern  science 
into  their  service.  They  desire  to  become  world- 
builders,  without  the  scientific  knowledge  which  ren- 
ders it  possible  to  attain  such  an  end.  One  chief 
reason  of  this  is  that  the  Baconian  system  brings  us 
no  nearer  to  a  knowledge  of  the  elementary  princi- 
ples of  things  than  we  were  before.  It  unfolds  to  us 
a  multitude  of  facts  and  phenomena,  and  their  rela- 
tions, but  of  the  real  nature  of  matter,  and  force,  and 
life,  and  intelligence,  we  are  as  ignorant  as  ever.  Hence 
the  temptation  to  return  to  ancient  speculations. 

The  skeptical  tendencies  manifested  among  scien- 
tific men  of  the  present  day  vary  from  positive  dis- 
belief of  the  supernatural,  generated  by  fixed  belief  in 
the  stability  of  nature  and  impossibility  of  miraculous 
interference,  to  merely  isolated  objections  suggested 
by  some  presumed  or  apparent  conflict  between  the 
discoveries  of  natural  science  and  the  statements  of 
Scripture.  In  some  form  or  other,  however,  nearly 
every  ancient  theory  has  its  modern  representatives. 


Tendencies  of  Free  Thought.  49 

The  tendency  to  atheism  or  materialism  may  be  seen 
in  the  apph'cation  of  statistics  for  the  discovery  of  the 
laws  of  civilization,  as  taught  by  Buckle  and  Mill, 
in  opposition  to  human  freedom  or  divine  agency. 
Dualism  is  represented  by  some  of  those  naturalists 
who  write  on  the  correlation  of  forces.  Pantheism 
is  taught  by  the  theory  of  development  by  law,  and, 
in  a  similar  form  to  the  classical  heathenism  of  the 
Eclectic  or  Neoplatonic  school,  by  the  spiritualists. 
Even  the  Pyrrhonists  may  find  a  parallel  in  some  of  the 
German  schools  of  metaphysics. 

Mr.  Farrar  considers  the  tendencies  of  free  thought 
at  present  to  be  three  in  number:  "One,  arising  from 
Positivism,  a  tendency  to  deny  the  possibility  of  rev- 
elation; a  second,  from  an  opposite  philosophy,  to 
deny  its  necessity;  and  a  third,  to  accept  it  only  in 
part.  These  are  the  three  tendencies  by  which  the 
world  and  the  church  of  the  coming  generation  are 
likely  to  be  influenced.  Our  path  in  life  will  be  in  a 
world  where  they  are  operating;  and  we  shall  need 
to  be  armed  with  the  whole  armor  of  God.  If  we 
have  in  our  personal  history  so  investigated  the  evi- 
dences of  our  faith  as  to  feel  that  we  have  a  well- 
grounded  hope,  unassailable  by  these  doubts,  we  may 
be  thankful;  if  we  have  gone  safely  through  the 
perilous  test  of  a  careful  examination  of  them,  some- 
times staggering,  perhaps,  in  our  faith,  yet  struggling 
after  truth,  in  prayerful  trust  that  the  Lord  would 
himself  be  our  teacher,  until  we  are  now  able  to  feel 
that  we  have  our  faith  grounded  on  -a  rock, — a  faith 
which  is  the  result  of  inquiry,  n  t  of  ignorance, — let 


50  Tendencies  of  Free  Thought. 

us  be  still  more  thankful,  and  exemplify  our  thank- 
fulness by  trying  to  assist  the  doubter  with  our 
tender  sympathy,  and  to  aid  him  in  finding  the  truth 
and  peace  which  Christ  has  given  to  us."* 

*  Critical  History  of  Free  Thought, 


CHAPTER    III. 

THE  RECORD  OF  FAITH. 


God  .  .  .  spake  in  time  past  unto  the  fathers." — St.  Paui» 


(50 


CONTENTS. 

Mankind  not  originally  barbarous — Civilization  of  the  Earliest  Ages 
as  taught  in  the  Scriptures — Religious  Views  of  the  Patriarchs — 
How  Men  become  degraded  in  Civilization  and  Religion — The 
Scriptural  Account  confirmed  by  the  History  of  Astronomy  and  the 
Ruins  of  Nations — Geological  Argument  for  the  Antiquity  of  Man 
— Duke  of  Argyll's  "Primeval  Man"  reviewed  —  History  and 
Literature  of  Greece  and  India  confirmatory  of  Scripture — The 
Primitive  Religious  Faith  not  natural — If  natural,  would  not  in- 
validate Scripture — Religious  Ideas  neither  innate,  nor  from  Sen- 
sational Experience,  nor  from  Psychological  Investigations  —  Iso 
other  conceivable  Mode  except  Revelation — Answer  Objections 
from  the  Interpretation  of  certain  Passages  of  Scripture. 


(52) 


CHAPTER    III. 

THE     RECORD     OF    FAITH. 

In  our  last  chapter  we  stated  that  the  religious 
opinions  of  patriarchal  times  gave  a  coloring  to  the 
views  of  all  nations,  and  showed  that  the  variations 
of  infidelity  were  but  modifications  or  republications 
of  ancient  heathen  philosophies  and  cosmogonies. 
We  now  examine  whether  the  scriptural  account 
of  the  early  faith  of  mankind  is  confirmed  by  history, 
and  whence  that  faith  originated. 

Infidel  writers  have  so  persistently  labored  to  show 
that  man  began  his  career  in  a  state  of  barbarism, 
if,  indeed,  he  be  anything  more  than  "a  walking 
vegetable,  an  improved  zoophyte,  or,  at  best,  a  civil- 
ized orang-outang,"  and  the  sentiment  that  we  are 
the  greatest  of  all  generations  is  so  soothing  to 
vanity,  that  it  seems  almost  hazardous  to  obtrude 
an  opposite  opinion;  yet  Scripture  and  authentic 
history  unite  in  testifying  that  the  original  character 
of  mankind  was  one  of  intellectual  dignity,  that  let- 
ters and  arts  were  known  in  the  earliest  ages,  and 
that  the  barbarism  of  nations  was  owing  to  nomadic 
habits  or  vicious  pursuits. 

Christianity  makes  no  claim  to  be  a  discovery  of 

(S3) 


54  Mankind  not  originally  barbarous, 

any  new  fundamental  truth.  It  is  rather  a  history 
of  facts  than  a  new  creed  or  hypothesis.  It  pro- 
fesses to  exhibit  the  full  development  of  the  early 
faith  of  mankind,  by  means  of  a  divinely-appointed 
system  of  agencies,  extending  from  the  first  revela- 
tions made  to  patriarchs,  through  the  Jewish  church 
and  nation,  until  in  the  fullness  of  time  the  entire 
scheme  was  completed  by  the  mission  of  Jesus  Christ 
and  the  establishment  of  ,the  Christian  church.  The 
Bible  transmits  to  us  the  Divine  promise  made  to  our 
first  parents,  and  its  renewal,  from  time  to  time,  by 
special  revelations,  which  Christianity  asserts  to  have 
been  fulfilled  by  the  advent  and  death  of  Christ.  We 
find  also  in  the  Scriptures,  as  collateral  to  its  great 
design,  an  account  of  the  religious  opinions  of  the 
ancient  world  given  by  revelation,  and  of  remark- 
able interpositions  of  Providence  in  the  world's 
history. 

Mankind  is  represented  in  those  early  days  not  in 
a  wild  and  barbarous  condition,  with  merely  ele- 
mentary notions  of  language  and  arts  and  civiliza- 
tion, but  as  having  obtained  in  some  manner  a  high 
degree  of  knowledge  and  refinement. 

The  knowledge  of  useful  metals  and  dominion 
over  the  animal  creation  have  always  been  con- 
sidered marks  of  civilization ;  yet  Abel  kept  sheep, 
and  Jabal  was  the  head  of  a  .noted  tribe  of  cattle- 
breeders.  Cain  built  a  city  called  Enoch;  and  music 
and  mechanical  arts  were  known  before  the  flood. 
Astronomy  was  cultivated,  and  names  were  given  to 
the  stars.     Thus  we  find  Job  referring  to  Arcturus, 


Early  Civilization.  eq 

Orion,  and  the  Pleiades.*  He  also  declares  that  God 
"stretcheth  out  the  north  over  the  empty  place,  and 
hangeth  the  earth  upon  nothing-."t  The  fine  arts,  as 
music  and  poetry,  were  cultivated,  as  is  evident  from 
the  passage,  "They  take  the  timbrel  and  harp,  and 
rejoice  at  the  sound  of  the  organ."f  Weaving  and 
building  and  workmg  in  metals  were  well-known 
employments;  hence  the  references,  "My  days  are 
swifter  than  a  weaver's  shuttle."§  "Surely  there  is 
a  vein  for  the  silver,  and  a  place  for  the  gold  where 
they  fine  it.  Iron  is  taken  out  of  the  earth,  and  brass 
is  molten  out  of  the  stone."||  War  had  its  imple- 
ments, commerce  its  ships  and  caravans,  and  luxury 
its  ornaments  of  gold  and  silver  and  precious  stones. 
Job  refers  to  the  iron  weapon,  the  bow  of  steel,  and 
the  sword,T[  as  well  as  to  pieces  of  money  and  ear- 
rings of  gold.**  Abraham  also  "weighed  to  Ephron 
the  silver  which  he  had  named  in  the  audience  of  the 
sons  of  Heth,  four  hundred  shekels  of  silver,  current 
money  with  the  merchant."tt  There  was  also  a 
permanent  literature,  since  language  had  books,  and 
inscriptions,  and  laws  of  versification.  It  is  thought 
by  some  good  critics  that  the  first  part  of  the  book 
of  Genesis  embodies  more  than  one  ancient  docu- 
ment earlier  than  Moses.  Certain  it  is  that  the  song 
of  Lamech,  in  antediluvian  times,  presents  the  prin- 
ciple  of  parallelism  which  is  the  form  of  Hebrew 

*  Job,  ix.  9;  xxxviii.  31,  32.  f  Job,  xxvi.  7. 

X  Job,  xxi.  12.  \  Job,  vii.  6. 

II  Job,  xxviii.  I,  2.  \  Job,  xx.  24. 

**  Jol,  xlii.  II.  ff  Gen.  xxiii.  16. 


56  Religious   Views  of  the  Patriarchs. 

verse.*  God  commanded  Moses  to  write  in  a  book 
for  a  memorial  ;t  and  the  names  on  Aaron's  breast- 
plate and  mitre  were  engraved  "  like  the  engravings 
of  a  signet."J  Job  exclaimed,  "  Oh  that  my  words 
were  now  written!  oh  that  they  were  printed  in 
a  book!  that  they  were  graven  with  an  iron  pen 
and  lead  in  the  rock  forever  !"§  These  representa- 
tions are  not  pictures  of  a  barbarous  age.  Compared 
with  Oriental  nations  of  the  present  day,  it  would 
not  seem  that  progress  is  an  inherent  quality  of 
human  nature. 

The  religious  views  of  the  most  ancient  times  are 
represented  in  the  Scriptures  as  embracing  the  per- 
sonality and  greatness  of  God,  the  creation  and  prov- 
idential government  of  the  world,  the  existence  of 
good  and  evil  angels,  the  fall  and  depravity  of  man- 
kind, the  promise  of  forgiveness  and  restoration  by 
the  mediation  of  a  Redeemer,  the  possibility  of  Di- 
vine communications  to  the  human  consciousness, 
the  reality  and  perpetuity  of  a  future  state,  and  the 
Divine  sanction  of  moral  laws  and  precepts.  The 
moral  laws  which  were  regarded  as  of  Divine  au- 
thority in  the  patriarchal  age,  and  which  are  called 
by  ancient  Jewish  commentators  "the  statutes  of 
Adam,"  or  "the  precepts  of  the  sons  of  Noah,"  have 
been  thus  enumerated: 

1.  To  abstain  from  idolatry.  • 

2.  To  worship  the  true  God. 

*  Gen.  iv.  23.  ■}■  Ex.  xvii.  14. 

X  Ex  xxviii.  21.  \  Job,  xix.  23. 


Development  of  Early  Faith.  57 

3.  To  commit  no  murder. 

4.  To  refrain  from  all  impure  lusts. 

5.  To  avoid  all  rapine,  theft,  and  robbery. 

6.  To  administer  true  justice. 

7.  To  observe  the  Sabbath  as  a  day  of  rest  and 
worship. 

These  things  are  clearly  taught  in  the  oldest  books 
of  Scripture,  as  the  Pentateuch  and  the  book  of  Job, 
and  are  there  referred  to  as  of  most  ancient  date.* 
These  great  fundamental  truths  of  religious  history 
and  doctrine  the  Bible  records  also  as  divinely  re- 
vealed :  "  God  hath  spoken  by  the  mouth  of  all  his 
holy  prophets  since  the  world  began. "f  In  the 
Hebrew  nation  they  were  preserved  and  developed 
by  a  national  polity,  a  religious  priesthood  and  ritual, 
and  a  succession  of  inspired  men  and  inspired  writ- 
ings, which  served  as  "  a  light  that  shineth  in  a  dark 
place  until  the  day  dawn."  The  Christian  dispensa- 
tion is  the  fulfillment  of  the  ancient  promises,  the  full 
development  of  ancient  doctrines,  and  the  exhibition 
of  the  full  application  of  ancient  precepts. 

If  these  representations  of  Scripture  are  true,  they 
ought  to  be  capable  of  historic  confirmation  by  trac- 
ing backwards  the  religious  thought  of  various  na- 
tions, as  so  many  radii  proceeding  from  a  common 
centre.  The  want  of  perfect  records,  however,  renders 
such  an  investigation  incomplete  and  fragmentary; 
yet  it  will  not  be  unsuccessful.  Ancient  literature,  and 
the  progress  of  antiquarian  research,  especially  in 

*  See  Smith's  Patriarchal  Age.  f  Acts,  iii.  21. 


58  How  Faith  may  be  perverted  or  lost. 

Oriental  lands,  confirm  the  opinion  that  the  lines 
drawn  by  history,  though  broken  and  effaced  at  many 
points,  are  perfectly  parallel  with  the  scriptural 
record. 

The  manner  in  which  religious  ideas  may  become 
degraded,  perverted,  or  lost  is  easy  to  trace.  When  a 
system  of  doctrines,  or  opinions,  or  historical  events 
has  been  committed  to  writing,  as  in  the  Scriptures, 
it  will,  of  course,  be  long  preserved  in  its  pure  and 
simple  form;  but  its  traditional  form  will  vary  ac- 
cording to  the  habits  and  mental  improvement  of  the 
people  among  whom  it  may  be  found.  Among  com- 
paratively civilized  people,  who  congregate  in  cities 
and  cultivate  the  arts  and  amenities  of  social  life,  its 
fundamental  principles  will  remain  longest,  and  its 
corruptions  will  be  the  product  of  philosophic  specu- 
lation or  poetic  fancy.  Among  pastoral  and  agri- 
cultural nations  we  may  expect  to  find,  mingled  with 
the  elementary  ideas,  vagaries  of  greater  simplicity, 
tinged  with  childish  superstitions.  Nomadic  and 
barbarous  tribes,  who  in  the  pursuit  of  the  mere 
necessaries  of  life  have  but  little  time  for  instruction, 
are  those  among  whom  in  the  lapse  of  ages  such  a 
system  will  lose  its  distinctive  characters,  and  in  some 
instances  may  be  totally  lost.  The  history  of  religious 
opinion  in  all  ages  shows  this  to  have  been  the  case 
with  respect  to  the  primitive  religion  of  the  patri- 
archs. While  we  meet  with  fragments  of  it  and 
testimonies  to  it  in  nearly  all  nations,  the  literature 
of  Greece  and  the  religious  systems  of  Asia  afford 
the  most  numerous  points   of  coincidence.     A  few 


Ancient  Civilization  confirmed  by  Astronouty.     59 

barbarous  tribes  have  been  found  which  seem  to  have 
retained  no  trace  of  the  idea  of  a  Supreme  Being,  or 
of  religious  worship.  Mr.  Locke  refers  to  the  Hot- 
tentots of  Soldani'a,  etc.  as  instances  of  this  kind;  and 
Mr.  Moffat,  after  over  twenty  years'  residence  among 
the  Bechuanas  of  South  Africa,  tells  the  same  thing 
of  them.  The  Papuans  of  Australia  and  the  Digger 
Indians  of  California  may  in  all  probability  be  placed 
in  the  same  class. 

The  representations  of  the  Scriptures  respecting 
the  arts  and  literature  and  civilization  of  the  early 
world  are  fully  confirmed  by  the  history  of  astron- 
omy and  by  the  remains  of  the  most  ancient  nations 
known  to  historical  science. 

Bailly,  the  friend  and  correspondent  of  Voltaire, 
in  his  treatise  on  Oriental  Astronomy,  bears  un- 
witting testimony  to  the  biblical  account.  He  ob- 
serves that  he  had  "  found  everywhere  in  the  ancient 
world  not  only  astronomical  improvements,  which 
imply  a  corresponding  progress  in  science,  but  also 
civil  institutions  for  chronology  and  the  regulation 
of  time,  derived  from  one  source,  and  identically  the 
same ;  an  entire  and  consistent  system  of  music, 
whose  two  halves,  separated  by  revolutions  incident 
to  human  affairs,  had  been  transported  to  the  two 
extremities  of  the  globe;  a  primitive  measure,  which 
still  exists  everywhere  in  Asia,  by  itself  or  in  its 
component  parts,  and  which  was  connected  with  a 
very  ancient  and  accurate  determination  of  the  mag- 
nitude of  the  globe;  one  and  the  same  legislation  for 
the  sciences,  arts,  and  religion ;  the  same  system  of 


6o  Human  Remains  confirmatory. 

physics  and  theology;  in  fine,  everywhere  remaining 
traces  of  ignorance  succeeding  to  light  and  science." 
The  accurate  astronomical  records  which  have  come 
down  to  us  from  earliest  times  confirm  the  same 
view  of  the  primitive  age.  It  is  not  possible  for 
ignorant  barbarians  to  have  been  capable  of  the 
complex  observations  and  calculations  which  these 
records  imply. 

The  ruins  of  Egypt,  Phoenicia,  Assyria,  and  Baby- 
lon, and  the  light  thrown  upon  their  history  by  the 
researches  of  ChampoUion,  Botta,  Layard,  and  Raw- 
linson,  give  a  similar  testimony  and  afford  numerous 
illustrations  of  the  manners  and  customs  referred  to 
in  the  Bible.* 

Finding  no  room  for  the  theory  of  development  in 
the  remains  of  authentic  history,  skepticism  has  in- 
terrogated the  earth's  crust,  and  the  discovery  of 
human  remains  near  Abbeville,  France,  and  in  other 
places,  and  the  ruins  of  lake-habitations  about  several 

*  " '  It  is,  indeed,  one  of  the  most  remarkable  facts  in  history,' 
writes  Dr.  Layard,  '  that  the  records  of  an  empire  so  renowned  for 
its  power  and  civilization  should  have  been  entirely  lost;  and  that 
the  site  of  a  city,  as  eminent  for  its  extent  as  its  splendor,  should  for 
ages  have  been  a  matter  of  doubt;  it  is  not,  perhaps,  less  curious  that 
an  accidental  discovery  should  suddenly  lead  us  to  .hope  that  these 
records  may  be  recovered,  and  this  site  satisfactorily  identified.'  It 
is  more  than  curious :  it  is  the  wise  Providence  of  Him  who  uncov- 
ereth  secret  things  that,  in  our  busy,  speculative,  superficial  age,  when 
men  are  questioning  the  truth  of  his  revelation,  and,  wise  in  their  own 
conceit,  denying  his  moral  government  of  the  worlds  He  has  framed, 
the  earth  should,  as  it  were,  give  forth  a  voice,  reveal  the  buried  pal- 
aces of  ancient  days,  and  proclaim  thereby  a  fresh  attestation  to  the 
truths  of  sacred  writ." —  Treasury  of  Bible  Knowledge, 


Human  Remains  in  the  Rocks.  6 1 

of  the  Swiss  lakes,  have  afforded  grounds  for  much 
scientific  speculation  and  conjecture.  No  conclusion, 
however,  can  be  drawn  from  these  remains  incon- 
sistent with  the  view  of  a  degradation  of  some  races 
from  a  more  highly  civilized  condition.  Dana,  in  his 
"  Manual  of  Geology,"  after  Prestwich,  remarks  that 
"  the  evidence,  as  it  at  present  stands,  does  not  neces- 
sitate the  carrying  of  man  back  in  past  time,  so  much 
as  the  bringing  forward  of  the  extinct  animals  towards 
our  own  time."  At  the  time  of  the  Abbeville  dis- 
covery, a  scientific  commission  was  appointed  to  in- 
vestigate it;  but  the  evidence  of  relative  antiquity 
was  very  conflicting,  and  in  some  respects  incompati- 
ble. A  distinguished  French  geologist,  M.  de  Beau- 
mont, gave  it  as  his  opinion  that  the  gravel  deposit 
of  the  locality  did  not  belong  to  the  diluvian  age  at 
all,  but  to  the  actual  or  modern  period.  This  latter 
period  includes  a  large  variety  of  rocks,  of  mechani- 
cal, organic,  chemical,  and  igneous  origin,  having 
great  variety  of  structure,  from  the  alluvium  of  river- 
beds to  travertine  and  lava  of  immense  thickness. 
Prof  Heer,  of  Zurich,  also,  from  examinations  of  the 
plants  found  in  the  Swiss  lake-dwellings,  deduces 
their  age  at  from  looo  to  2000  years  B.C. 

The  Duke  of  Argyll,  in  his  **  Primeval  Man,"  re- 
views the  discussion  between  Archbishop  Whately 
and  Sir  J.  Lubbock  respecting  the  origin  of  civiliza- 
tion. He  argues  for  a  vast  antiquity  for  the  human 
race,  although  fully  accepting  the  scriptural  account 
of  man's  primeval  condition  and  degradation.  He 
rejects  every  theory  of  chronology  drawn  from  ex- 


62  Chronology  of  the  Early  World. 

isting  versions  of  the  Old  Testament, — the  Hebrew, 
the  Samaritan,  and  the  Septuagint, — since  they  vary 
from  each  other,  not  by  years,  but  by  centuries.  He 
suggests  that  the  early  history  of  the  Old  Testament 
was  intended  to  be  merely  the  history  of  typical  men 
and  typical  generations,  and  its  intimations  of  secular 
interests  were  obscure  and  incidental.  Its  account  of 
the  dividing  of  the  tribes  is  so  condensed  as  to  give 
the  impression  of  long  intervals.  The  first  of  the  de- 
scendants of  Noah  whose  personality  is  clear  to  us  is 
associated  with  the  fact  of  national  growth.  Abra- 
ham figures  in  the  advanced  civilization  of  the  Pha- 
raohs in  Egypt,  and  Chedorlaomer  appears  the  sov- 
ereign of  a  long-established  race.  The  migrations  of 
Abraham  stand  at  the  very  beginning  of  historical 
chronology.  They  give  us  the  earliest  date  on  which 
chronologists,  without  great  discrepancy,  are  agreed. 
This  is  2000  years  B.C.  Yet  the  Egyptian  monarchy 
was  founded  long  before, — some  say  700  years  before. 
This  places  the  beginning  of  the  Pharaohs  at  2800 
B.C.,  which,  according  to  Usher's  interpretation  of  the 
Hebrew  Pentateuch,  would  be  400  years  before  the 
flood.  The  Septuagint  varies  from  this  800  years, — 
a  variation  so  enormous  as  to  throw  doubt  on  the 
whole  system  of  interpretation  by  which  such  com- 
putations are  made.  The  authentic  records  of  the 
Chinese  begin  in  the  twenty-fourth  century  B.C.,  or 
300  years  before  Abraham,  although  some  consider 
them  less  ancient.  The  Duke  of  Argyll  thinks  that 
such  facts  indicate  either  that  the  flood  happened 
vastly  earlier  than  has  been  usually  supposed,  or  that 


Antiqiiity  of  the  Human  Race.  63 

it  destroyed  only  a  portion  of  the  human  family.  The 
chronologies  professedly  founded  on  the  Pentateuch 
he  considers  to  involve  doubtful  and  inconsistent  in- 
terpretations. Thus,  when  we  read  of  Canaan,  the 
grandson  of  Noah,  that  he  "  begat  Sidon  his  first- 
born, and  Heth,"  we  seem  to  have  the  names  of  in- 
dividual men  ;  but  when  it  is  immediately  added  that 
he  also  begat  *'  the  Jebusite,  and  the  Amorite,  and  the 
Arkite,  and  the  Sinite,"  etc.,  it  is  clear  that  we  are 
dealing  not  with  single  generations,  but  with  a  con- 
densed abstract  of  the  origin  and  growth  of  tribes. 
The  varieties  of  the  human  race,  also,  which  the 
science  of  language,  as  well  as  the  Scriptures,  shows 
to  have  descended  from  a  common  stock,  require  a 
vast  antiquity  to  account  for  them,  especially  as  there  is 
proof  from  the  Egyptian  monuments  of  the  existence 
of  the  negro  race  1400  years  B.C.  He  sums  up  the 
geological  evidence  as  follows:  1st.  That  man  ap- 
peared in  Northern  Europe  at  a  time  when  it  was 
covered  with  quadrupeds  now  wholly  extinct.  2d. 
That  the  surface  of  the  earth  has  since  that  period 
been  subject  to  modifications  which  imply  great 
changes  in  physical  geography.  3d.  That  the  period 
when  these  animals  flourished  and  when  man  coex- 
isted with  them  was  one  when  a  colder  climate  pre- 
vailed. 

Argyll  accepts  the  geological  evidence  for  the  great 
antiquity  of  the  rude  implements  found  in  caves,  etc., 
but  considers  it  about  as  safe  to  argue  from  these  im- 
plements as  to  the  condition  of  man  in  his  primeval 
home,  as  to  argue  from  the  habits  and  acts  of  the  Es- 


64  The  Cave-Bear  and  the  Glaciers. 

quimaux  the  state  of  civilization  in  London  or  Paris. 
He  refers  to  the  language  of  archaeologists  respecting 
a  stone  age,  a  bronze  age,  and  an  iron  age,  and  de- 
clares that  there  is  no  proof  that  such  ages  ever  ex- 
isted in  the  world,  since  flint  implements  are  a  very 
uncertain  index  of  civilization  even  among  the  tribes 
who  used  them,  and  are  no  index  at  all  of  the  civiliza- 
tion of  cotemporaneous  tribes.  He  fully  indorses  the 
theory  of  moral  degradation,  and  says  that  "  human 
corruption  in  this  sense  is  as  much  a  fact  in  the  natural 
history  of  man  as  that  he  is  a  biped  without  feathers." 
Dr.  Winchell  replies  to  the  skeptical  argument 
that  Geology  requires  a  higher  antiquity  for  the 
human  race  than  the  Scriptures  teach,  as  follows: 
"  We  have  no  rule  for  the  measurement  of  post- 
Tertiary  time  which  necessitates  the  admission  of  so 
higR  antiquity  to  our  race.  If  we  have  been  accus- 
tomed to  think  of  the  extinction  of  the  cave-bear  as 
dating  back  to  high  antiquity,  we  now  discover  that 
he  lived  with  man  and  the  reind-eer,  and  other  animals 
which  still  survive.  The  existence  of  even  the  cave- 
bear  may  not  have  been  so  very  remote.  What  are 
the  reasons  assigned  for  the  prevalent  opinion  that  it 
was  many  ages  age  that  the  glaciers  began  to  dis- 
appear from  Europe  ?  Simply  the  existence  at  that 
time  of  quadrupeds  now  extinct,  together  with  the 
presumption,  unsupported,  as  it  seems,  by  the  facts, 
that  no  animals  have  coexisted  with  man  except 
those  of  the  recent  fauna.  The  fact  is  that  we  come 
ourselves  upon  the  earth  in  time  to  witness  the  retreat 
of  the  glaciers.    They  still  linger  in  the  valleys  of  the 


Beginnings  of  our  Race.  65 

Alps  and  along  the  northern  shores  of  Europe  and 
Asia,  while  the  disappearance  of  animals  once  con- 
temporaries of  man  is  still  continuing.  Not  only  did 
contemporaries  of  man  become  extinct  during  the 
age  of  stone;  some  survived  to  the  twelfth,  fourteenth, 
and  sixteenth  centuries,  as  already  stated;  the  moa 
of  New  Zealand  and  the  aepiornis  of  Madagascar 
have  become  extinct  within  the  epoch  of  tradition,  as 
indeed  has  the  mammoth  of  North  America;  the 
dodo  of  Mauritius  disappeared  in  the  seventeenth 
century;  the  great  auk  of  the  arctic  regions  has  not 
been  seen  for  half  a  century ;  and  every  one  must  be 
convinced  that  the  beaver,  elk,  panther,  buffalo,  and 
other  quadrupeds  of  North  America,  are  approaching 
extinction  by  perceptible  steps.  The  fact  is,  we  are 
not  so  far  out  of  the  dust  and  chaos  and  barbarism 
of  antiquity  as  we  had  supposed.  The  very  begin- 
nings of  our  race  are  still  almost  in  sight.  Geological 
events  which,  from  the  force  of  habit  in  considering 
geological  events,  we  had  imagined  to  be  located  far 
back  in  the  history  of  things,  are  found  to  have  trans- 
pired at  our  very  doors.  Our  own  race  has  witnessed 
the  dissolution  of  those  continen-tal  glaciers  which  we 
have  so  long  talked  of  as  incidents  of  pre-Adamite 
history.  Our  own  race  has  witnessed  the  submer- 
gence of  Southern  Europe ;  the  detachment  of  the 
British  Islands  an*d  Scandinavia  from  the  continent ; 
tlie  wanderings  of  the  great  rivers  of  Eastern  Asia ; 
the  submergence  of  thousands  of  square  miles  of  the 
coast  of  China,  so  that  the  seats  of  ancient  capitals  are 
now  rocky  islets  far  at  sea;   the   emergence  of  the 

6» 


66  The  Bible  and  Geology  Hartnonious. 

ancient  country  of  Leetonia;  the  drainage  of  the  vast 
lake  which  once  overspread  the  prairies  of  Illinois ; 
the  alternations  of  forests;  and  many  other  events 
which  we  once  associated  with  high  antiquity.  It  is 
the  opinion  of  Hooker  and  Gray  that  the  Falkland 
Islands,  and  others  in  the  vicinity,  have  formed  a  part 
of  the  continent  of  South  America  during  recent  times, 
and  that  during  this  connection  they  acquired  the 
continental  fauna  and  flora.  The  Straits  of  Behring 
may  even  have  been  cut  through  since  the  early 
migrations  of  man  and  his  contemporaries,  the  mam- 
moth and  reindeer,  as  in  some  distant  future  age  the 
Isthmus  of  Darien,  which  now  connects  North  and 
South  America,  may  become  a  strait  separating  them. 
There  is  no  more  reason  in  this  day  than  fifty  years 
ago  to  claim  a  hundred  thousand  years  for  the  past 
duration  of  our  race."  * 

Dr.  Dawson  institutes  comparisons  between  our 
present  knowledge  of  palaeocosmic  men  as  gained 
from  Geology  and  the  scriptural  record.  He  shows 
that  both  the  Bible  and  Geology  exhibit  man  to  be 
united  without  any  break  to  the  close  of  the  (Ter- 
tiary) period  of  the  great  mammals  ;  that  the  oldest 
human  remains  are  nearly  allied  to  the  most  widely- 
distributed  modern  race,  while  their  size  and  strength 
remind  us  of  the  nephilim  or  giants  of  Scripture ; 
that  the  cranial  capacity  of  these  earliest  men  shows 
no  sign  of  affinity  with  brutes ;  that  the  condition, 
habits,  and  structure  of  palaeocosmic  men  correspond 

*  Sketches  of  Creation,  p.  368. 


Argument  of  Prof.  Lewis,  dj 

with  the  idea  that  they  may  be  rude  and  barbarous 
offshoots  of  more  cultivated  tribes ;  and  that  their 
funeral  rites  and  the  traces  of  their  religious  beliefs 
point  to  a  similarity  with  those  of  the  most  ancient 
races  of  men,  which  are  all  fairly  traceable  to  corrup- 
tions of  those  primitive  articles  of  faith  revealed  in  the 
Scriptures.* 

Prof.  Tayler  Lewis  [Excursus  in  Lange's  Genesis, 
ch.  X.]  argues  that  the  admission  of  a  creation  does 
not  demand  the  idea  of  an  instantaneous  coming 
from  nothing  of  everything  belonging  to  the  new 
existence,  but  only  the  new  and  distinct  beginning 
of  that  which  especially  makes  //  ivhat  it  is — a  new, 
peculiar  entity  separate  from  everything  else.  Ap- 
plying this  to  man,  his  origin  may  have  been  as 
remote  as  any  theory  may  allow.  Even  the  common 
idea  of  an  outward  plastic  formation  of  the  body 
implies  the  use  of  a  previous  nature  in  previous 
materials,  and  is  essentially  the  same  idea  as  that  of 
the  employment  of  previous  growths  and  processes. 
How  many  steps  there  were  we  cannot  know,  but 
there  may  have  been  outwardly  approximations  to 
the  human  long  before  there  was  reached  that 
humanity  proper  in  which  nature  and  spirit  unite. 
We  need  not  be  startled  at  the  thought  of  such 
anthropoidal  forms,  some,  perhaps,  larger  than  any 
now  found  on  earth,  and  which  may  have  perished, 
like  some  of  the  mammoth  mammalia.  If  the  ex- 
plorations of  science  have  brought  to  light  any  such 


*  Nature  and  the  Bible,  p.  176. 


68  The  Tnie  Humanity. 

remains,  our  faith  need  not  be  disturbed  by  the  ques- 
tion of  their  pre-historicalness.  The  interpreter  of 
Scripture  is  httle  concerned  either  in  affirming  or 
denying  such  discoveries.  Whatever  be  their  date, 
we  have  not  yet  come  to  the  humanity  proper,  the 
Adamic  humanity,  that  humanity  which  Christ  as- 
sumed and  raises  to  a  still  higher  sphere.  The  true 
creation  of  man  was  not  merely  a  formation  or  an 
animation^  but  an  inspiration — a  direct,  divine  inspira- 
tion (Gen.  ii.  7) ;  and  now  there  is  what  before  was 
not,  a  new  thing  upon  earth,  not  simply  something 
higher  physically  (though  even  that  would  require  a 
divine  intervention),  but  an  entity  distinct  as  con- 
nected with  a  higher  or  supernatural  world. 

From  this  prinncs  homo,  thus  inspired,  comes  all 
of  humankind.  This  inspiration  is  a  new  divine 
force  in  the  earth.  The  fall  does  not  at  once  destroy 
it,  though  giving  a  tendency  to  spiritual  death,  carry- 
ing with  it  a  physical  decline.  Even  with  this,  how- 
ever, the  primitive  divine  impulse  in  the  first  men 
makes  them  very  different  from  what  is  now  called 
the  savage  state,  which  is  everywhere  found  to  be 
the  dregs  of  a  once  higher  condition,  the  setting  in- 
stead of  the  rising  sun.  All  past  and  present  history 
may  be  confidently  challenged  to  present  the  con- 
trary. Among  human  tribes,  wholly  left  to  them- 
selves, the  higher  man  never  comes  out  of  the  lower. 

In  the  antediluvian  period  the  creative  impulse 
manifested  itself  by  its  resistance  to  the  death-prin- 
ciple, which  the  fall  through  the  spiritual  had  intro- 
duced into  the  physical  organization  of  man.     After 


Confirmation  by  Secular  History.  69 

the  flood  this  impulse  tended  to  a  sensual  gregari- 
ousness,  making  humanity  sublime  even  in  its  wick- 
edness. It  was  the  time  of  the  tower-builders,  the 
pyramid-builders,  the  great  city-builders,  the  empire- 
founders.  It  was  different  from  anything  now  known 
in  savage  tribes,  and  produced  results  utterly  un- 
known as  ever  following  from  such  a  state. 

Such  were  the  primitive  men  as  the  Bible  presents 
them  to  us,  although  their  mere  worldly  greatness 
was   to  the   Scripture  writers  a  wholly  subordinate 
subject.     Secular  history  confirms  the  account:   ist, 
by  its  silence  as  to  all  before.     At  most,  only  a  few 
bones,  here  and  there  discovered,  and  about  whose 
real   antiquity  men  of  science  are  still  contending, 
are  all  the  traces  of  man's  existence  in  pre-historic 
times.     We  ask  in  vain  for  marks  of  progress,  or  of 
any  transition  state.     A  speaking  silence,  like  that 
which  seems  to  come  from  the  blank  chamber  of  the 
Great  Pyramid,  proclaims  that  man,  the  Adamic  or 
Noachic  man,  is  not  much  older  than  the  pyramids. 
History  confirms  this,  2dly,  by  its  positive  testimony. 
It  begins  with  men  doing  great  things,  raising  pyra- 
mids, building  cities,  founding  states.     It  opens  with 
the  Egyptian  and  Babylonian  empires,  and  that,  too, 
as  new  powers  in  fullest  vigor  and  presenting  every 
appearance  of  youthful  greatness.     In  brief,  the  first 
historical  appearances  of  men  upon  the  earth  are  at 
war  with  the  theory  of  savagism.    The  savage  condi- 
tion is  one  ever  sinking  lower  until  aid  is  brought  to 
it  from  without,  and  at  the  early  time  referred  to  there 
was  no  such  aid  except  from  a  supernatural  source. 


yo  History  of  Greece  Confirmatory. 

The  early  history  of  Greece  is  shrouded  in  ob- 
scurity ;  but  we  deduce  from  the  most  rehable  sources 
that  about  the  time  of  the  removal  of  the  family  of 
Jacob  into  Egypt  a  barbarous  horde  from  Asia  Minor 
migrated  to  the  islands  and  coasts  opposite.  Other 
colonies  from  Egypt  and  Phoenicia  followed,  carrying 
with  them  their  various  arts  and  policies.  Maritime 
and  piratical  expeditions  brought  them  into  contact 
with  other  parts  of  the  world  and  served  to  elevate 
them  into  a  state  of  semi-civilization.  As  time  wore 
on,  their  manners  became  more  refined,  their  language 
more  perfect,  and  a  succession  of  great  and  wise  men 
exalted  Greece  to  the  position  of  the  most  learned 
and  polished  nation  of  ancient  times.  Its  institutions 
and  literature  became  the  wonder  and  the  model  of 
the  world.  The  first  colonizers  of  Greece  brought 
with  them  such  principles  as  they  retained  of  the  sim- 
ple faith  and  worship  of  the  patriarchs ;  but  as  in  all 
other  countries  except  the  land  of  Israel,  so  here  this 
faith  became  corrupted  by  vain  imaginations,  and  a 
degrading  polytheism  was  substituted  for  the  primi- 
tive worship ;  yet  in  no  other  nation  than  Greece  do 
we  witness  such  struggles  of  the  human  mind  to  re- 
turn to  elementary  truth  by  means  of  reason  and 
philosophy. 

Plato  declares  that  "  after  a  certain  flood,  which  but 
few  escaped,  on  the  increase  of  mankind  they  had 
neither  letters,  writing,  nor  laws,  but  obeyed  the  man- 
ners and  institutions  of  their  fathers  as  laws;  but 
when  colonies  separated  from  them  they  took  an 
elder  for  their  leader,  and  in  their  new  settlements 


Patriarchal  Ideas  in  Greece.  71 

retained  the  customs  of  their  ancestors, —  those  es- 
pecially which  related  to  their  gods, — and  thus  trans- 
mitted them  to  their  posterity.  They  imprinted  them 
on  the  minds  of  their  sons,  and  they  did  the  same  to 
their  children.  This  was  the  origin  of  right  laws  and 
of  the  different  forms  of  government"* 

Herodotus  states  that  at  Dodona  he  was  told  that 
they  had  formerly  sacrificed  and  prayed  to  the  Deity 
in  general,  without  giving  any  name  or  names  to  the 
object  of  their  worship,  but  that,  after  a  long  time,  the 
names  of  the  gods  were  brought  there  from  Egypt. 

The  resemblance  of  the  religious  ideas  of  the  Greeks 
to  those  of  the  early  history  of  the  Bible  may  be  seen, 
notwithstanding  many  imaginations  and  speculations, 
in  the  theories  of  philosophers  and  in  the  poetic  and 
historic  literature  of  Greece  yet  extant.  A  volume 
of  quotations  might  be  made  in  confirmation  of  this 
view.  The  existence  and  worship  of  God,  the  sep- 
arate state  of  the  soul  after  death,  and  its  reward  or 
punishment  in  Elysium  or  Tartarus,  the  doctrine  of 
sacrificial  mediation,  the  difference  between  virtue  and 
vice,  the  primitive  chaos,  the  golden  age,  the  fall  of 
mankind,  the  tendency  of  the  world  to  moral  corrup- 
tion, the  deluge,  and  the  doctrine  of  special  interpo- 
sitions of  Heaven,  —  all  these  primitive  ideas  were 
retained  with  more  or  less  distinctness  in  all  their 
idolatries  and  speculations  and  poetic  fancies. 

The  religious  thought  of  India,  and  of  the  greater 
part  of  the  Oriental  nations,  has  been  greatly  modi- 

*  Plato,  De  Leg.,  iii.  p.  680. 


72  Origin  of  Religiotis  Ideas. 

fied  by  the  theories  of  a  philosophic  pantheism,  the 
peculiar  character  of  which  seems  to  have  been  the 
origin  of  Grecian,  if  not  of  all  philosophic,  specula- 
tion. The  more  luxuriant  imagination  of  the  East, 
also,  has  produced  a  greater  variety  of  fabulous 
legends  and  idolatries  than  elsewhere.  Yet  amid  all 
this  it  is  not  difficult  to  find  the  substratum  of  religious 
truth,  corresponding  to  that  of  the  primitive  age  as 
given  in  the  Scriptures.  The  ideas  of  Divine  exist- 
ence, of  the  nature  of  virtue  and  vice,  of  a  future 
state  of  rewards  and  punishments,  and  of  sacrificial 
mediation  for  the  forgiveness  of  sin,  may  be  clearly 
traced  through  all  the  fables  and  vagaries  with  which 
they  are  accompanied. 

Similar  things  may  be  said  of  every  nation  of  which 
we  have  any  authentic  Slccounts.  *'  Everywhere," 
says  Humboldt,  "  the  traces  of  a  common  origin,  the 
opinions  concerning  cosmogony,  and  the  primitive 
traditions  of  nations,  present  a  striking  analogy  even 
in  minute  circumstances.  Does  not  the  humming- 
bird of  Tezpi  call  to  mind  the  dove  of  Noah,  that  of 
Deucalion,  and  the  birds,  according  to  Berosus,  which 
Xisutrus  sent  forth  from  the  ark,  to  try  if  the  waters 
had  subsided,  and  if  as  yet  he  could  erect  altars  to 
the  gods  of  Chaldea?"* 

Whatever  religious  ideas  may  be  culled  out  of  the 
opinions  or  practice  of  any  nation  which  find  a  par- 
allel in  the  ideas  of  others,  have  their  primitive  root 
and  groundwork  in  the  Bible,  divested  of  speculative 

*  Humboldt'-   Cosmos. 


Religious  Faith  not  natural,  73 

and  superstitious  imaginations.  The  Bible  records 
these  ideas  in  their  purest  and  simplest  form.  This 
of  itself  is  a  strong  presumptive  argument  for  its  truth 
as  a  faithful  history  of  the  primitive  and  catholic  faith 
of  mankind.  "Which  of  your  poets,"  observes  Ter- 
tullian,  "which  of  your  sophists,  have  not  drunk  from 
the  fountain  of  the  prophets  ?  It  is  from  these  sacred 
sources,  likewise,  that  your  philosophers  have  re- 
freshed their  thirsty  spirits,  and  if  they  found  any- 
thing in  the  Holy  Scriptures  to  please  their  fancy  or 
to  serve  their  hypotheses,  they  turned  it  to  their  own 
purpose,  and  made  it  serve  their  curiosity,  not  con- 
sidering these  writings  to  be  sacred  and  unalterable, 
nor  understanding  their  sense,  —  every  one  taking  or 
leaving,  adopting  or  remodeling,  as  his  imagination 
led  him." 

Having  traced  the  streams  of  religious  opinion 
backwards  to  their  common  fountain  in  the  patriarchal 
age  as  exhibited  to  us  in  the  Bible,  the  question  nat- 
urally arises.  Whence  these  ideas  ?  Are  they  natural 
to  mankind  ?  Are  they  the  product  of  nature  or 
reason,  or  have  they  been  communicated  by  Divine 
revelation  ? 

If  religious  faith  is  natural,  or  is  the  product  of 
either  nature  or  reason,  it  would  be  fair  to  presume 
that  it  would  be  equally  clear  and  distinct  in  every 
age  and  nation  of  the  world,  since  the  gifts  of  nature 
and  of  reason  are  so  largely  distributed.  We  have 
seen,  however,  that  this  is  not  the  case.  The  tendency 
of  mankind,  as  shown  by  history,  is  to  corrupt  re- 
ligious truth  ;  and  if  the  authorities  referred  to  can  be 


74  The  Bible  tnie^  if  Faith  natural. 

relied  upon,  some  tribes  have  lost  all  knowledge  of 
it  whatever.  It  is  only  as  we  ascend  towards  the 
fountain  that  the  stream  becomes  pure  and  whole- 
some. Again,  one  item  of  primitive  faith, — the  prom- 
ise of  forgiveness  of  sin  through  a  Redeemer, — tes- 
tified to  by  all  the  sacrifices  of  the  heathen  world,  is 
essentially  germinal  in  its  nature  ;  it  points  to  a  com- 
ing Saviour, — **the  desire  of  all  nations."  If  this 
faith  be  natural,  how  does  it  happen  that  it  has  never 
been  developed,  save  in  Israel  and  in  the  cross  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  ?  The  Avatars  of  India  and  other 
mythologies  may  have  parodied  this  doctrine,  but  it 
has  never  been  historically  developed  except  as  re- 
corded in  the  Christian  Scriptures.  It  is  literally  true 
that  "  other  foundation  can  no  man  lay  than  that  is 
laid,"  and  "  there  is  none  other  name  under  heaven 
given  among  men  by  which  we  must  be  saved."  If 
the  Scriptures  are  rejected,  this  hope  of  the  ancient 
world  must  be  regarded  as  vain  or  unaccomplished. 
In  such  a  case  the  questions  would  still  recur.  Whence 
this  faith  ?  If  of  natural  origin,  why  not  its  develop- 
ment also  ? 

If  we  were  to  admit  that  the  patriarchal  faith  was 
natural  to  mankind,  it  would  not  necessarily  militate 
against  the  truth  and  inspiration  of  the  Scriptures. 
They  might  still  be  regarded  as  a  republication  of 
natural  religion,  made  by  Divine  authority,  with  ad- 
ditional sanctions,  more  clearly  established  and  de- 
veloped by  providential  interposition  into  a  complete 
system  for  human  redemption  and  the  conduct  of 
life.     Some  such  view  seems  to  have  been  taken  by 


Innate  Ideas  no  Source  of  Faith.  75 

many  theologians  and  writers  who  have  referred  to 
moral  notions  among  the  heathen  as  "  the  light  of 
nature,"  and  have  considered  such  natural  ideas  suf- 
ficient to  teach  the  difference  between  good  and  evil 
and  to  lead  to  the  performance  of  religious  duties. 
Some  of  these  writers  have  been  very  inconsistent 
with  their  own  views  respecting  the  necessity  of  a 
revelation. 

Religious  ideas  can  only  be  natural  to  man  in  one 
of  two  ways, — they  must  either  be  innate,  or  acquired 
by  sensational  or  psychological  experience.  If  we 
find  on  examination  that  they  could  have  been  ob- 
tained in  neither  of  these  modes,  we  shall  be  obliged 
to  acknowledge  that  they  have  originated  in  Divine 
revelation.  Metaphysicians  have  written  largely  upon 
these  subjects,  but  none  oi  them,  either  of  the  sen- 
sational or  idealistic  schools  of  philosophy,  have  ever 
succeeded  in  proving  that  the  religious  faith  of  man- 
kind is  either  innate  or  acquired  from  nature.  We 
therefore  conclude  with  Bacon  "  that  sacred  theology 
must  be  drawn  from  the  word  and  oracles  of  God, 
not  from  the  light  of  nature  or  the  dictates  of  rea- 

J)  -k. 

son.  ^ 

There  can  be  no  reasonable  doubt  that  we  have 
certain  inborn  (innate)  natural  faculties  by  which 'we 
are  enabled  to  "  discern  the  agreement  or  disagree- 
ment of  some  notions  so  soon  as  we  have  the  notions 
themselves  ;  as  that  we  can  or  do  think,  that  therefore 
we  ourselves  are,  that  one  and  two  make  three,  etc. 

*  Advancement  of  Learning,  Book  TX. 


^6  Religion  7iot  innate. 

This  we  may  call  intuitive  knowledge,  or  natural  cer- 
tainty wrought  into  our  very  make  and  constitution."* 
Such  knowledge,  however,  as  insisted  on  by  Kant  and 
others,  is  always  marked  by  necessity  and  universality. 
Mr.  Locket  argues  against  the  theory  of  innate  ideas, 
declaring  that  there  are  none  to  which  men  give  a 
universal  consent.  Which  side  soever  we  assume  in 
respect  to  the  general  principles  of  knowledge,  the 
arguments  of  Mr.  Locke  will  fully  apply  to  every  item 
of  the  patriarchal  faith.  He  first  shows  that  if  there 
were  certain  truths  wherein  all  mankind  agreed,  it 
would  not  prove  them  innate,  if  any  other  way  can  be 
shown  how  they  obtained  them.  He  then  argues  that 
there  are  no  ideas  so  universal,  for  if  children  and 
idiots  have  no  apprehension  of  them  it  destroys  that 
universal  consent  which  is  the  necessary  concomitant 
of  all  innate  truths.  Further,  such  general  maxims 
ought  to  appear  clearest  and  brightest  in  those  per- 
sons in  whom  we  find  them  not,  as  in  children  and 
illiterate  persons,  who  are  least  corrupted  by  custom 
or  borrowed  opinions. 

We  have  already  seen  that  there  are  whole  tribes 
of  men  who  are  so  degraded  as  to  have  lost  most,  if 
not  all,  of  the  knowledge  of  God  and  of  religious  truth. 
The  observations,  also,  of  those  who  have  had  the 
care  of  deaf  mutes — as  in  the  interesting  case  of  Laura 
Bridgman,  who  was  born  deaf,  dumb,  and  blind,  but 
was  instructed  through  the  sense  of  touch  until  she 

*  Oldfield,  Essay  on  Reason,  p.  5. 

f  Essay  on  the  Human  Understanding. 


Religious  Ideas  not  from  the  Senses.  yj 

could  hold  conversation,  and  who  testified  that  she 
had  no  knowledge  or  idea  of  God  or  the  soul  until 
she  was  taught — tend  to  confirm  the  view  that  there 
are  no  innate  religious  ideas.  Archbishop  Whately 
pertinently  remarks  that  "a  deaf-mute,  before  he  has 
been  taught  a  language, — either  the  finger-language 
or  reading, — cannot  carry  on  a  train  of  reasoning,  any 
more  than  a  brute.  He,  indeed,  differs  from  a  brute 
in  possessing  the  mental  capability  of  employing  lan- 
guage ;  but  he  can  no  more  make  use  of  that  capa- 
bility till  he  is  in  possession  of  some  system  of 
arbitrary  general  signs,  than  a  person  born  blind  from 
cataract  can  make  use  of  his  capacity  for  seeing  till 
the  cataract  is  removed.  Hence  it  will  be  found  by 
any  one  who  will  question  a  deaf-mute  who  has  been 
taught  language  after  having  grown  up,  that  no 
such  thing  as  a  train  of  reasoning  had  ever  passed 
through  his  mind  before  he  was  taught."*  If  reli- 
gious ideas  were  inborn  or  arose  spontaneously  in 
the  mind,  such  persons  would  manifest  their  pos- 
session w^hen  they  were  brought  into  contact  with 
other  minds,  and  had  been  taught  to  exercise  their 
Acuity  of  expression. 

As  we  can  find  no  reason  to  believe  the  primitive 
faith  to  be  innate  to  mankind,  there  is  likewise  no 
evidence  that  it  could  have  originated  from  sensa- 
tional experience.  The  ideas  of  God,  of  spirit,  of 
moral  duty,  of  sin,  and  of  atonement,  which  lie  at 
the  basis,  of  the   patriarchal    religion,  are    spiritual 


'"■  Elements  of  Logic,  p.  2] 
7* 


78  Knowledge  depe7ident  upon  Sensation. 

ideas,  i.e.  they  relate  to  the  existence  and  nature  and 
condition  of  spiritual  beings;  while  external  nature 
is  only  competent  to  communicate  ideas  of  material 
things.  The  mind  has  no  connection  with  the  ex- 
ternal world  except  by  means  of  the  nervous  system 
of  the  body,  and  every  simple  idea  communicable  by 
means  of  the  nerves,  as  ideas  of  seeing,  hearing,  feel- 
ing, smelling,  and  tast-ng,  must  in  the  nature  of  things 
relate  to  the  properties  of  matter.  It  is  impossiWe  to 
conceive  that  one  could  see,  hear,  feel,  smell,  or  taste 
anything  immaterial.  "As  it  is  written.  Eye  hath  not 
seen,  nor  ear  heard,  neither  have  entered  into  the 
heart  of  man,  the  things  which  God  hath  prepared 
for  them  that  love  him.  But  God  hath  revealed  them 
unto  us  by  his  Spirit."*  The  manner  in  which  super- 
natural communications  of  spiritual  ideas  may  be  re- 
vealed in  the  sphere  of  the  natural  world  is  a  subject 
for  subsequent  consideration.  In  denying  a  material 
origin  for  faith,  we  do  not  underrate  sensation  as  a 
means  of  acquiring  knowledge.  We  are  doubtless 
dependent  upon  it  for  our  perceptions  of  the  external 
world.  So  important  and  fundamental  is  it  that  many 
have  conceived  it  to  be  the  only  means  of  gaining 
knowledge,  and  teach  that  every  idea  in  our  minds 
may  be  traced  to  our  senses ;  but,  as  the  stream  can- 
not rise  higher  than  its  source,  it  is  evident  that  sen- 
sation can  communicate  no  knowledge  of  anything 
beyond  its  own  origin  in  the  material  world. 

The  only  remaining  mode  by  which  ideas  may  be 

•5^  I  Cor.  ii.  9,  lo. 


Faith  not  from  Mental  Faculties.  79 

naturally  obtained  is  by  psychological  experience, 
or  the  observation  and  application  of  the  mental 
faculties. 

Whatever  importance  we  may  assign  to  the  senses 
with  relation  to  our  knowledge  of  external  things,  it 
is  easily  seen  that  no  man  "-knoweth  the  things  of  a 
man,  save  the  spirit  of  man  which  is  in  him."  Con- 
sciousness is  a  faculty  or  power  of  the  mind  by  which 
a  man  knows  himself  to  be  himself,  and  to  be  the 
subject  of  the  various  sensations  he  experiences.  The 
Creator,  also,  has  obviously  established  a  close  rela- 
tion between  the  mind  and  outward  things,  and  the 
power  of  tracing  relations  among  the  various  objects 
of  thought  is  a  faculty  of  which  the  mind  is  conscious. 
The  ideas  derived  from  this  source,  called  by  Mr. 
Locke  ideas  of  reflection,  have  much  to  do  with  the 
extent  and  accuracy  of  our  knowledge  of  the  ex- 
ternal world ;  but  the  knowledge  of  "  the  things  of  a 
man,"  or  those  faculties  which  distinguish  us  from 
other  creatures,  depends  entirely  upon  them. 

From  the  time  of  the  first  publication  of  the  Pla- 
tonic philosophy,  the  various  schools  of  metaphysi- 
cians, in  all  ages,  have  examined  this  subject  in  order 
to  discover  what  may  be  known  by  observing  or  con- 
centrating the  mind's  inherent  powers;  but  thus  far 
no  one  has  been  able  to  point  out  how  the  primitive 
and  universal  religious  faith  of  mankind  could  have 
originated  in  this  manner.  St.  Paul  declared  that 
"the  world  by  wisdom  knew  not  God,"  and  the  most 
thorough  investigation  fully  confirms  the  sentiment. 
Kant,  who  may  be  called  the  apostle  of  transcenden- 


8o  Reason  ignorant  of  God. 

talism,  or  supersensuous  philosophy,  treats  largely 
upon  this  subject,  and  denies  the  possibility  of  prov- 
ing the  existence  of  a  Deity  on  the  grounds  of  spec- 
ulative reason.  He  discusses  the  three  kinds  of  argu- 
ment which  he  declares  to  be  the  only  modes  possible, 
and  which  he  terms  the  ontological  argument,  deduced 
from  a  priori  conceptions  alone ;  the  cosmological  ar- 
gument, "  from  a  purely  indeterminate  experience, 
that  is,  some  empirical  existence ;"  and  the  physico- 
t/ieo/ogica/  argument,  beginning  "  from  determinate  ex- 
perience and  the  peculiar  constitution  of  the  world  of 
sense,  and  rising,  according  to  the  laws  of  causality, 
from  it  to  the  highest  cause  existing  apart  from  the 
world."  He  declares  "  that  all  attempts  of  reason  to 
establish  a  theology  by  the  aid  of  speculation  alone 
are  fruitless,  that  the  principles  of  reason  as  applied 
to  nature  do  not  conduct  us  to  any  theological  truths, 
cind,  consequently,  that  a  rational  theology  can  have 
no  existence  unless  it  is  founded  upon  the  laws  of 
morality."  Again,  **  A  supreme  being  is,  therefore, 
for  the  speculative  reason,  a  mere  ideal,  though  a 
faultless  one, — a  conception  which  perfects  and  crowns 
the  system  of  human  cognition,  but  the  objective 
reality  of  which  can  neither  be  proved  nor  disproved 
by  pure  reason."* 

From  such  considerations  we  are  obliged  to  ques- 
tion the  human  origin  or  natural  foundation  of  reli- 
gion, and  are  compelled  to  differ  from  those  theolo- 
gians who  regard  the  Scriptures  as  a  republication  of 

*  Critique  of  Pure  Reason. 


Light  of  Early  Revelation.  8 1 

the  truths  of  nature.  We  are  forced  to  the  conclusion 
that  the  existence  and  prevalence  of  ideas  pertaining 
to  the  spiritual  world,  as  ideas  of  God,  spirit,  duty, 
sin,  atonement,  etc.,  prove  that  there  has  been  a  rev- 
elation made  to  man  from  the  world  of  spirits,  since 
no  other  mode  of  acquiring  such  ideas  is  conceivable. 
The  spiritual  or  religious  faculties  of  man  have  not 
been  left  without  appropriate  objects,  any  more  than 
the  intellect  or  the  bodily  nature.  We  have  seen,  also, 
that  the  root  and  substratum  of  all  the  primitive  reli- 
gious ideas  in  the  world  are  contained  in  the  Bible, 
unconnected  with  speculative  follies  or  degrading 
superstitions.  We  therefore  regard  the  Bible  as  the 
genuine  and  original  record  of  Divine  revelation. 

This  view  of  the  origin  of  religious  truth  agrees 
with  all  the  annals  of  antiquity.  "  Moses  has  recorded 
the  settlements  of  the  first  parents  of  mankind,  where 
God,  in  a  more  frequent  and  immediate  manner,  gave 
revelations  of  his  will,  and  commanded  them  to  teach 
it  to  their  children  and  their  children's  children. 
Hence  those  first  colonies  of  the  East,  Phoenicia, 
Persia,  and  Egypt,  continued  the  oracles  of  learning 
to  the  world  through  all  succeeding  ages.  The 
further  men  dispersed  from  them,  the  more  they 
became  sunk  in  barbarity  and  divested  of  humanity 
Reason  was  like  the  echo:  where  nearest  to  the  voice 
it  was  strong,  but  as  it  removed,  gradually  sunk  and 
died  away.  And  what  not  a  little  contributed  to  this 
preservation  of  knowledge  in  the  East  was  God's  con- 
tinuing to  reveal  himself  to  the  Jews,  so  that  in  pro- 
cess of  time  the  little  spot  of  Jewry  was  the  only 


82    Law  wniten  in  the  Hearts  of  the  Heathen. 

place  where  the  true  God  was  known  and  taught. 
And  some  beams  of  this  Divine  wisdom  could  not 
but  shine  forth  from  time  to  time  upon  the  neighbor- 
ing people  who  conversed  with  them.  Accordingly, 
whenever  we  find  a  people  begin  to  revive  in  litera- 
ture, it  was  owing  to  one  of  these  causes  :  either  to 
some  transmigrators  from  those  parts  coming  and 
settling  among  them,  or  else  to  their  going  thither 
for  instruction.  From  these  fountains  they  always 
had  it,  and  at  this  fire  the  nations  of  the  world  lighted 
their  own.  There  is  no  instance  to  the  contrary. 
Hither  Athens,  and  afterwards  Rome,  came  in  quest 
of  knowledge  and  instruction.  These  were  the  schools 
and  masters  to  the  world.  And,  though  our  accounts 
of  Asia  are  but  short  and  defective,  yet  what  remains 
there  are,  as  also  their  traditions,  even  in  China,  trace 
their  origin  and  oracles  westward  ;  which  is  the  fullest 
confirmation  of  the  Mosaic  history,  and  of  the  propa- 
gation of  knowledge  by  instruction  only."* 

It  is  sometimes  objected  that  certain  texts  of  Scrip- 
ture encourage  the  idea  of  the  natural  origin  of 
religious  truth.  Thus,  in  Rom.  ii.  15,  St.  Paul  men- 
tions the  law  written  in  the  hearts  of  men,  even 
heathens,  and  implies  that  the  principles  of  moral  law 
are  innate  in  man.  To  this  the  author  last  quoted 
replies,  "  That  a  principal  distinction  between  the 
Jews  and  Gentiles  was  that  one  had  a  written  law,  the 
other  not ;  that,  before  the  age  of  Moses,  the  whole 
world  was  subject  to  the  same  general  law,  as  it  had 

*  Ellis's  Knowledge  of  Divine  Things  from  Revelation. 


The  Law  of  God  binding  on  all.  83 

been  given  to  Adam,  Noah,  etc.  from  God,  and  by 
them  deHvered  to  their  posterity,  who  were  subject  to 
the  sanctions  of  it  in  rewards  and  punishments ;  which 
in  justice  they  could  not  have  been,  except  it  had  the 
force  of  a  law,  and  received  sufficient  promulgation. 
Thus  the  patriarchs  were  justified  in  obeying,  the 
Sodomites  and  others  condemned  for  disobeying  the 
law  delivered  to  them;  and  after-ages  had  these  gen- 
eral notions  of  duty  and  sin  providentially  continued 
down  to  them,  to  keep  conscience  and  the  inward 
senses  of  the  soul  awake,  and  thereby  render  them 
excusable  or  inexcusable.  And  all  the  ancient  com- 
mentators und-erstood  these  words,  Z'^o-^^  yf'p  ^^0>ri^  '  for 
when  the  Gentiles,'  etc.,  Rom.  ii.  14,  of  those  who 
lived  before  the  law,  as  Melchisedec,  Job,  etc.,  or  who 
repented,  as  the  Ninevites,  or  who  had  learned  the 
worship  of  the  true  God,  as  Cornelius.  This  was 
theii:  >oixoq  uYpa(poq^  Unwritten  law,  for  the  heathen 
Avorld  had  no  other.  Draco's  were  the  first  (and  those 
chiefly  political  ones)  committed  to  writing  in  Greece, 
about  624  years  before  Christ ;  and  a  moral  system 
was  not  attempted  till  Socrates  taught  it,  and  Xeno- 
phon  and  Plato  recorded  his  sentiments. 

"Again,  the  wisest  writers  on  the  law  of  nature  (as 
Puffendorf)  interpret  these  texts  as  a  figurative  ex- 
pression, and  implying  no  more  than  a  clear  and  cer- 
tain knowledge  treasured  up  in  the  memory,  of  which 
the  persons  spoken  of  are  convicted  in  their  own  con- 
sciences, by  what  means  soever  these  notions  entered 
into  their  thoughts.  And  to  write  in  the  mind  cv  ttj 
t^'u/rj  Ypd(paiv^  et  scnberc  in  animo,  was  a  phrase  in  com- 


84  God  seen  from  the  Creation, 

mon  use  with  the  Greeks  and  Latins  as  well  as  the 
holy  penmen  both  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments." 

Another  text  is  sometimes  quoted  to  show  that  the 
being  and  attributes  of  God  may  be  discovered  in  the 
works  of  nature :  "  For  the  invisible  things  of  him 
from  the  creation  of  the  world  are  clearly  seen,  being 
understood  by  the  things  that  are  made,  even  his 
eternal  power  and  Godhead;  so  that  they  are  without 
excuse."  Rom.  i.  20.  But  the  context  shows  that 
the  apostle  is  so  far  from  asserting  the  sufficiency  of 
nature  to  discover  the  existence  of  a  Deity,  that  his 
argument  is  founded  on  the  heathens  being  already 
convinced  of  this  truth.  The  following  comments 
are  judicious  and  conclusive: 

Dr.  Ellis  remarks,  v.  19,  "  Because  that  which  may 
be  known  of  God" — as  much  as  was  necessary  for 
their  present  circumstances,  concerning  his  essence, 
attributes,  and  will — **is  manifest  in  them,"  or  (as  the 
margin  and  others  read  it)  to  them,  or  among  them, 
not  indeed  from  nature  and  reason,  "for  God  hath 
showed  it  unto  them,"  iipa\>iinoat\  the  word  expressly 
denotes  a  positive  act  of  God,  who  brought  to  light, 
made  manifest  and  evident,  that  which  was  dark,  ob- 
scure, and  unknown  before,  by  the  sundry  ways  He 
thought  proper  to  reveal  and  make  himself  known 
to  us. 

V.  20,  "  For  {j"-py  nam,  siqnidem,  forasmuch  as)  the 
invisible  things  of  Him"  — **  his  eternal  power  and  God- 
head," as  afterwards  explained — "from  (not  ly-,  but  «"<), 
ever  since)  the  creation  of  the  world,"  when  they  were 
fully  communicr.ted,  "  are  clearly  seen,"  because,  after 


Religion  as  Old  as  the  World.  85 

a  declaration  of  his  nature  and  existence,  the  Divine 
attributes  are  plainly  evinced,  "  being  understood" 
(^voouftsva^  explained  to  the  understanding)  "  by  the 
things  that  are  made"  {r.oi7iiJ.a<n)^  the  works  of  God,  or 
things  which  He  had  done  ;  not  only  of  creation  but 
of  providence,  in  the  deluge,  in  the  wonderful  preser- 
vation of  his  church  and  destruction  of  his  enemies, 
in  his  many  appearances,  miracles,  and  interpositions 
with  mankind,  which  through  all  ages  had  been  re- 
lated to  them,  and  were  a  sensible  demonstration  of 
omniscience,  omnipotence,  invisibility,  and  immateri- 
ality :  "  even  his  eternal  power  and  Godhead,"  which 
alone  could  effect  such  wonderful  things. 

On  the  phrase  "from  the  creation,"  Matthew  Henry 
says,  "Understand  either  the  work  of  creation  as  a 
topic, 'and  man  in  particular, — or,  the  date  of  the  dis- 
covery, as  old  as  the  creation  of  the  world." 

Koppe  says,  "  From  the  [i.e.  from  the  period  of  the^ 
very  creation  of  the  world." 

Rev.  R.  Watson,  in  his  exposition  of  this  passage, 
says,  "  It  by  no  means  follows  from  this  that  the 
apostle  intended  to  teach  that  the  principles  of  God's 
moral  government,  his  will,  and  our  duties  and  hopes, 
in  a  word,  all  that  has  been  termed  natural  religion, 
is  to  be  learned  by  the  study  of  physics,  and  that  the 
visible  world  is  a  sufficient  book  for  man.  The 
apostle  well  knew  that  both  among  Gentiles  and 
Jews,  from  the  earliest  ages,  there  had  been  commu- 
nications of  moral  truth  in  direct  revelations,  and 
traditions  of  those  revelations ;  that  the  world  had 
never  been  without  moral  laws,  or  without  promises 


86  Religion  as  Old  as  the  World. 

of  redemption ;  and  what  he  knew  to  be  fact,  univer- 
sally acknowledged  by  those  to  whom  he  writes,  he 
assumes ;  and  considers,  therefore,  that  what  proves 
the  existence  of  that  God,  made  known  as  to  his  will 
and  designs  in  these  early  and  widely-diffused  reve- 
lations, gave  authority  also  to  all  the  truth  which  had 
ever  been  connected  with  the  doctrine.  He  assumes, 
in  fact,  what  we  see  assumed  throughout  the  Scrip- 
tures, that  God  communicated  the  knowledge  of 
himself  and  his  will  originally  to  mankind;  that  this 
knowledge,  though  disregarded  and  darkened,  was 
never  wholly  lost;  that  the  visible  universe  was  a 
standing  testimony  to  it  as  existing,  not  the  means  of 
first  revealing  it,  nor  of  recovering  it  through  a  pro- 
Cess  of  reasoning,  if  in  any  instance  entirely  lost." 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  RECORD. 


"  The  prophets  have  inquired  and  searched  diligently." 
''  Holy  men  of  God  spake  as  they  were  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost." 

St.  Peter. 


(87) 


CONTENTS. 

Inspiration  of  the  Bible  the  Basis  of  Interpretation — Classification  of 
Evidences — History  of  Opinions  respecting  Inspiration — Claim  of 
the  Scriptures  themselves — Possibility  of  a  Revelation — Mode  of 
Revelation  by  Bodily  Appearances,  Visions,  "Words,  or  Impulses — 
Special  Impulse  similar  to  the  Ordinary  Work  of  the  Spirit,  hence 
the  Adaptation  of  the  Bible — Inspired  Men  sometimes  rapt  beyond 
Consciousness  —  Degrees  of  Inspiration — Revelation  conformable 
to  the  Intellectual  Status  of  the  Seer — Science  not  to  be  sought  in 
the  Scriptures — Five  Rules  of  Interpretation — Diversity  of  Interpre- 
tation from  Diversities  of  Character  and  Many-sidedness  of  Truth. 


(88) 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  RECORD. 

The  manner  In  which  we  should  interpret  the  Bible 
is  a  subject  of  fundamental  importance  to  the  Chris- 
tian student,  not  only  that  he  may  be  able  to  deter- 
mine the  sense  for  himself,  but  also  that  he  may  reject 
false  criticism  by  readily  recognizing  its  point  of  de- 
parture from  correct  principle. 

The  infidel  objections  of  the  rationalistic  school  are 
directed  not  so  much  against  the  antiquity  and  gen- 
uineness of  the  Scriptures,  as  against  the  doctrines 
and  history  deduced  therefrom,  on  the  ground  of 
certain  alleged  discrepancies  and  inconsistencies.  It 
assumes  the  right  and  the  ability  to  judge  what  is 
proper  to  be  revealed  from  Heaven,  and  as  a  general 
rule  reduces  the  Bible  to  the  level  of  ordinary  books. 
It  considers  the  Scriptures  as  containing  the  opinions 
of  Paul,  or  David,  or  Moses,  or  other  writers,  entitled 
to  respect  because  of  their  genius  and  antiquity,  but 
the  truth  or  falsity  of  whose  views  must  be  judged  of 
by  men's  own  intuitions  and  convictions.  It  is  ready 
to  explain  a  difficult  doctrine  or  a  marvelous  fact  by 
some  mythical  or  mystical  system  of  interpretation ; 
and  if  this  will  not  avail,  it  boldly,  if  not  contempt- 
uously, spurns  the  record. 

Our  views  of  the  meaning  and  application  of  Scrip- 

8*  (89) 


90  Classes  of  Evidence, 

ture  teaching  will  depend  mainly  on  the  opinions  we 
have  formed  respecting  its  authority  or  inspiration. 
Hence  the  inspiration  of  the  Bible  must  first  be  in- 
vestigated, as  the  basis  of  its  interpretation. 

The  evidences  of  Christianity,  as  they  are  called,  or 
the  proofs  in  favor  of  the  claim  of  the  Bible  to  be 
considered  a  revelation  from  God,  are  very  numerous. 
The  usual  mode  of  classifying  them  is  to  divide  them 
into — 1st,  external;  and  2d,  internal.  Each  of  these 
classes  requires  a  subdivision  into  [d]  the  Divine,  and 
(b)  the  human.  The  external  Divine  are  miracles  and 
prophecy;  the  external  human  are  the  historical  proofs 
of  the  authenticity  and  genuineness  of  the  books  of 
Scripture.  The  iitternal  Divine  are  the  accordance  of 
the  doctrines  with  the  moral  sense  and  spiritual  wants 
of  men  and  with  the  expectations  we  should  form 
antecedently  of  the  contents  of  a  revelation ;  the  in- 
ternal hiima7i  are  the  critical  evidences  of  undesigned 
coincidence.  Each  class  of  evidence  has  been  fully 
treated  of  by  various  writers.  It  is  the  aim  of  the 
present  work  to  show  the  harmony  of  some  of  the 
principal  doctrines  of  Scripture  with  a  true  scientific 
investigation  of  the  teachings  of  Nature. 

The  Bible  professes  to  be  a  revelation  from  Heaven, 
dating  back  in  its  origin  to  the  earliest  ages  of  the 
world.  It  will,  therefore,  present  traces  of  the  same 
handiwork,  the  same  Divine  ideas,  which  we  find  in 
the  world  around  us.  Properly  interpreted,  the  Scrip- 
tures can  never  contradict  the  teachings  of  real  science. 
To  understand  the  true  system  of  interpretation  is, 
therefore,  essential  to  our  plan,  since  it  occupies  the 


Hhtojy  of  Opinions.  9 1 

same  relation  to  revelation  which  science  holds  to 
nature, — as  an  exhibitor  of  the  true  ideas  of  the  Di- 
vine mind. 

E!xtreme  views  have  been  held  with  respect  to  the 
inspiration  of  the  Scriptures.  One  regards  the  entire 
book  as  so  fully  inspired  by  the  spirit  of  truth  as  to 
exclude  the  possibility  of  error.  Of  course,  on  this 
view,  interpretation  becomes  a  mere  question  of 
grammar.  The  opposite  opinion  denies  the  super- 
natural character  of  the  Bible,  and  regards  it  simply 
as  the  expression  of  the  genius  and  piety  of  the 
writers,  or  of  the  opinions  and  spirit  of  the  time  and 
country  in  which  they  lived.  Those  who  hold  this 
opinion  will  interpret  the  teachings  of  the  Scriptures 
on  a  rationalistic  basis,  in  the  light  of  their  own  con- 
victions and  intuitions  and  even  prejudices. 

Between  these  extremes,  many  intermediate  views 
have  been  held  at  different  times,  with  greater  or  less 
distinctness.  The  ancient  Jews  felt  the  highest  rever- 
ence for  their  Scriptures,  and  took  care  to  count  every 
verse  and  letter  in  every  book,  and  to  retain  every 
large  and  small  letter,  etc.  as  it  occurred  in  the  most 
ancient  manuscripts.  The  modern  Jews  regard  the 
Prophets  and  Psalms  as  inferior  to  the  law.  The 
early  Christian  Fathers  regarded  the  Scriptures  as 
**the  true  words  of  the  Holy  Ghost."  Tertullian, 
however,  allowed  that  the  apostles  were  at  times 
permitted  to  speak  their  own  words,  as  where  St.  Paul 
says,  "  To  the  rest  speak  I,  not  the  Lord."  Chrysos- 
tom  and  Jerome  also  admitted  the  human  element  in 
the  Scriptures,  as  seen  in  the  slight  variations  in  the 


92  Claim  of  the  Scriptures. 

different  narratives  of  the  same  event.  The  church 
of  the  Middle  Ages  held  that  the  books  of  the  Bible 
were  in  a  peculiar  and  distinct  sense  the  lively  oracles 
of  God,  although  Abelard  taught  that  the  prophets 
sometimes  spoke  from  their  own  minds,  and  that  the 
apostles  were  liable  to  error,  as  St.  Peter  respecting 
circumcision,  who  was  reproved  by  St.  Paul.  The 
watchword  of  the  Reformation  was,  "The  sufficiency 
of  the  Scriptures  for  salvation,"  in  opposition  to  tra- 
dition, or  the  unwritten  teaching  of  the  church.  The 
natural  inclination  was  to  a  very  high  esteem  for  the 
Bible,  although  some  of  the  leading  reformers  held 
to  a  somewhat  freer  view  of  inspiration  than  the  rest. 
The  Calvinistic  reformers  held  to  the  plenary  and 
even  verbal  inspiration  of  the  Scriptures,  so  that  some 
of  the  Swiss  Confessions  speak  of  simple  dictation  by 
the  Holy  Ghost.  The  Remonstrants  and  Arminians, 
however,  made  clear  distinctions  between  the  Divine 
and  the  human  elements  in  the  writers  of  the  Old 
and  New  Testaments.  Of  all  the  parties  in  the 
church  since  the  Reformation,  the  Socinians  have 
always  tended  most  to  loose  and  rationalistic  views. 

Definite  theories  of  inspiration  were  seldom  pro- 
pounded until  of  late  years,  when  the  spread  of 
rationalizing  speculations,  the  spirit  of  theological 
criticism,  and  the  rapid  discoveries  of  modern  science, 
have  given  birth  both  to  theories  and  controversies 
respecting  them.* 

Whatever  views  of  inspiration  we  may  adopt,  the 

*  See  Essay  on  Inspiration,  by  E.  H.  Browne,  in  "  Aids  to  Faith." 


Variety  in  the  Sacred  Writers.  93 

most  cursory  examination  of  the  Scriptures  them- 
selves will  show  that  they  claim  to  be  the  utterances 
of  Divine  wisdom, — the  expression  of  the  very  ideas 
which  the  Holy  Spirit  intended.  They  recognize  the 
existence  and  universal  sovereignty  of  a  personal 
Deity  as  a  fact  well  known  from  the  most  ancient 
limes,  and  they  profess  to  record  the  personal  acts 
and  words  of  Jehovah  at  various  times  in  the  history 
of  mankind,  chiefly  respecting  the  development  of  a 
system  of  facts  and  occurrences  relating  to  the  moral 
renovation  of  mankind.  Christ  and  his  apostles 
frequently  refer  to  the  Old  Testament  Scriptures  as 
containing  the  elements  of  the  Christian  dispensation 
and  predictions  respecting  it,  and  assert  for  these 
writings  Divine  inspiration  and  authority.  So  inter- 
woven are  the  facts  and  ideas  of  the  entire  volume 
that  no  part  of  the  canon  can  be  removed  without 
marring  the  harmony  and  perfection  of  the  whole. 
Every  book  forms  part  of  a  system,  the  central  idea 
of  which  is  that  of  Divine  interposition  and  revela- 
tion. This  view,  however,  is  perfectly  consistent  with 
the  necessity,  in  the  sacred  writers,  of  diligent  and 
faithful  research,  with  the  expression  of  the  same 
thought  in  different  words,  with  such  differences 
between  the  accounts  of  inspired  men  as  would  be 
likely  to  arise  from  the  different  standpoints  of  each, 
with  quotations  from  other  inspired  authorities,  with 
the  employment  of  uninspired  documents,  and  with 
the  peculiarities  of  style  and  manner  arising  from 
diversities  of  intellectual  structure  and  from  educa- 
tiotaal  or  other  influences. 


94  Biblical  Idea  of  God, 

In  our  last  chapter  we  argued  that  external  Nature 
is  only  competent  to  communicate  ideas  of  material 
things,  while  psychological  experience  is  limited  to 
the  knowledge  of  man's  own  faculties  and  his  power 
of  tracing  relations.  This  excludes  all  spiritual  ideas 
whatever,  as  the  idea  of  God,  spirit,  etc.  Hence 
revelation  is  the  only  possible  source  of  ideas  pen 
taining  to  spirit;  and  if  these  ideas  first  occurred  in 
the  Bible,  its  writers  must  have  been  inspired  from 
the  world  of  spirits.  We  now  inquire  how  a  revela- 
tion can  be  made,  or  the  manner  in  which  the  spirit- 
ual and  invisible  world  can  manifest  itself  in  the 
sphere  of  the  visible.  Of  course,  every  consistent 
deist  admits  the  possibility  of  such  a  revelation,  for 
if  Nature  be  the  work  of  a  personal  God,  the  order 
of  Nature  reveals  the  harmony  of  the  Divine  ideas. 
If  man,  also,  have  a  spiritual  as  well  as  a  physical 
nature,  his  volitions  manifest  the  character  of  his 
mind.  Every  embodied  thought,  therefore,  is  a 
proof  of  the  reality  of  a  spiritual  communication  in 
the  sphere  of  the  natural  world,  unless  we  adopt  the 
wildest  of  the  pantheistic  and  physical  theories  of 
life;  and  even  on  this  theory  the  natural  is  the  mani- 
festation or  expression  of  the  spiritual,  or  rather 
identical  with  it. 

The  Christian  conception  of  God  is  that  of  a  purely 
spiritual  essence,  exalted  above  all  that  is  finite,  and 
yet,  since  He  reveals  and  imparts  himself  to  the 
world,  as  having  a  definite  relation  to  the  created  uni- 
verse. It  is  this  relation  which  causes  the  biblical 
idea  to  differ  so  widely  from  that  of  pantheism. 


The  Angel- yehovah,  95 

The  spiritual  essence  and  distinction  of  God  from 
the  world  have  led  in  the  progress  of  thought  to  the 
idea  of  a  medium  by  which  God  creates  the  world, 
works  upon  it,  and  reveals  himself  to  it.  This  was 
supposed  to  have  its  ground  in  the  Divine  nature 
itself,  and  yet  to  be  in  some  manner  distinct  from  it. 
Such  was  the  view  of  Philo  concerning  the  Logos, 
traces  of  which  may  also  be  seen  in  the  doctrine  of 
Plato,  and  in  the  system  of  Zoroaster,  in  which  Hon- 
over  is  represented  as  the  Word  by  which  the  world 
was  created, — the  most  immediate  revelation  of  the 
god  Ormuzd.* 

The  oldest  form  of  revelation  referred  to  in  the 
Old  Testament  is  the  Theophany,  —  the  manifes- 
tation or  appearance  of  God  either  in  a  bodily 
form  which  the  external  senses  could  perceive,  or 
in  visions  and  dreams  which  the  internal  sense 
observed. 

Manifestations  of  God  in  bodily  form  are  ascribed 
to  the  angd  of  the  Lord, — the  Angel-Jehovah, — who 
claims  Divine  power,  honor,  and  names  for  himself,  ac- 
cepts of  worship  and  sacrifices,  and  is  usually  regarded 
as  God  by  those  to  whom  He  appears.  These  temporary 
appearances  of  the  Divine  nature  prefigured  the  perma- 
nent incarnation  of  God  in  his  Son,  Jesus  Christ,  who 
is  the  most  perfect  revelation  of  the  Father,  and  who 
by  word  and  spirit  and  work  and  example  has  ex- 
hibited all  we  need  for  our  salvation;  for  the  truth 
is  in  Jesus;  He  is  the  Truth,  the  Life,  and  the  Way, 

*  Hagenbach's  History  of  Doctrines. 


g6  Scientific  Probabilities  of  Revelation. 

the  great  object  of  all  previous  revelations  and  of  all 
sacred  history. 

In  addition  to  the  personal  appearances  of  God  him- 
self, we  find  in  the  Scriptures  frequent  allusions  to 
the  ministry  of  angels,  who  are  represented  as  a 
higher  order  of  intelligence  than  mankind,  and  of 
great  power,  usually  invisible,  yet  occasionally  com- 
missioned to  manifest  themselves  to  the  bodily 
senses. 

These  appearances  were  not  imaginative  and  illu- 
sory, but  real ;  the  bodily  forms  had  bodily  qualities. 
Thus,  in  the  infantile  age  of  the  world,  the  angels  ate 
with  Abraham,  and  Jacob  wrestled  bodily  with  his 
antagonist  at  Peniel.  As  the  world  grew  in  knowl- 
edge of  the  Divine  purposes,  these  representations 
became  more  spiritual  and  less  analogous  to  natural 
modes.  Thus  the  offering  -of  Gideon  to  the  angel 
was  consumed  by  fire  out  of  the  rock,  and  in  a 
still  later  age  the  visions  of  Isaiah  and  of  Ezekiel 
surpassed  all  ordinary  forms  whatever.  There  is 
nothing  improbable,  in  a  scientific  view,  in  these  em- 
bodiments of  spiritual  existences.  Man  himself  may 
be  regarded,  scientifically,  as  a  compound  of  matter 
and  spirit, — matter  so  joined  to  spirit  that  it  lives 
and  is  made  subject  to  new  modes  or  laws  of  being. 

The  most  common  opinion  attributes  to  angels 
real  though  rarefied  bodies,"  of  varying  properties, 
capable  of  transit  from  world  to  world,  and  of  be- 
coming visible  or  invisible,  tangible  or  impassible, 
at  pleasure.  Another  view,  however,  considers  them 
as  capable  of  assuming  bodies  other  than  their  own 


View  of  Angelic  Transmigration.  97 

proper  vehicle  of  communication  with  the  material 
universe.  This  opinion  considers  that  "the  relation 
of  mind  to  matter  subsists  between  the  being  en- 
dowed with  life  and  the  ultimate  molecules  of  ma- 
terial substance.  The  individual  atoms  thus  brought 
into  connection  with  the  living  being  are  perpetually 
changing.  Fresh  molecules  are  continually  brought 
into  this  relation,  while  the  old  ones  are  cast  off  Thus, 
also,  the  number  of  atoms  under  the  control  of  any 
living  being  is  always  varying.  In  the  case  of  man, 
these  changes  are  accomplished  according  to  certain 
organic  laws ;  nevertheless  volition  enters  largely  as 
an  element  into  their  operation.  Now,  it  is  not  push- 
ing the  method  of  reasoning  by  analogy  too  far,  to 
suppose  that  in  the  case  of  angels  the  element  of 
volition  may  enter  more  largely  into  the  process,  and 
that  these  beings  may  be  endowed  with  a  faculty  of 
altering  at  pleasure  the  material  molecules,  both  as 
regards  individuality  and  number,  with  which  their 
minds  are  in  immediate  relation.  Going  a  step  fur- 
ther, we  may  imagine  that,  when  it  becomes  needful 
for  any  special  purpose,  they  have  the  power  of 
withdrawing  their  spirits  completely  from  all  con- 
nection with  the  ponderable  atoms."* 

On  this  hypothesis,  a  spirit  may  disengage  himself 
from  his  usual  organism,  and,  in  a  way  similar  to  the 
vibrations  of  light  or  of  electricity,  may  traverse  the 
ether  until  he  reaches  our  planet,  and  then,  assem- 
bling around  him  a  sufficiency  of  atoms  to  constitute 

*  The  Material  Universe,  by  M.  Ponton. 


98  Other  Modes  of  Revelation. 

a  temporary  organism,  resembling  or  identical  in 
structure  with  a  human  body,  will  be  brought  into  a 
condition  qualifying  him  to  discharge  his  commission. 
His  message  delivered,  he  may  dissipate  his  tempo- 
rary body  and  return  as  he  came.  There  is,  to  say 
the  least,  nothing  contradictory  or  irrational  in  this 
view,  and  it  may  serve  to  show  that  there  is  a  way  in 
which  bodily  appearances  and  communications  may 
be  made  from  the  spiritual  world. 

The  only  conceivable  modes  of  direct  revelation 
from  the  world  of  spirits,  other  than  by  bodily  appear- 
ances and  actions,  are  visions,  words,  or  impulses.  A 
pictorial  representation  must  be  made  to  the  eye  or 
imagination  of  the  seer,  or  words  must  be  uttered 
which  are  intelligible  to  his  mind,  ora  sp>ecial  impulse 
must  be  afforded  to  his  mental  faculties. 

Each  of  these  modes  of  revelation  is  referred  to  in 
the  Scriptures  as  occurring  in  different  dispensations 
and  at  different  times.  God  has  at  sundry  times  and 
in  divers  manners  spoken  unto  the  fathers  by  the 
prophets,  and  in  these  last  days  has  spoken  unto  us 
by  his  Son.  The  manner  in  which  the  Bible  exhibits 
a  Divine  revelation  to  have  been  made  will  suggest 
to  us  the  true  principles  of  interpretation.  It  is  the 
true  key  to  the  meaning  of  Holy  Writ. 

Pictorial  representation  to  the  eye  or  imagination 
was  frequent  among  the  prophets  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, and  characterizes  the  Apocalypse  in  the  New. 
Jacob's  vision  at  Bethel,  Joseph's  prophetic  dreams, 
the  visions  of  Isaiah,  Jeremiah,  Ezekiel,  Daniel,  etc., 
and  a  number  of  references  in  the  New  Testament  are 


Verbal  Revelation.  99 

examples.  Hugh  Miller,  in  his  **  Testimony  of  the 
Rocks,"  refers  to  this  manner  of  revelation  respecting 
past  events  of  which  the  seer  was  necessarily  ignorant. 
He  quotes  a  number  of  ancient  commentators  in  con- 
firmation of  his  views,  and  applies  it  to  the  account 
of  the  creation  given  in  the  book  of  Genesis,  He 
supposes  the  prophet  to  have  received  a  series  of 
visions  illustrating  or  typifying  those  periods  in  which 
the  earth  was  being  prepared  for  man's  abode.  Each 
of  those  pictorial  visions,  he  supposes,  took  up  a  nat- 
ural day,  and  that  the  phrases,  "The  evening  and  the 
morning  were  the  first  day," — "second," — "  third  day," 
etc.,  refer  to  the  representations,  and  not  to  the  cre- 
ative processes  themselves.  While  this  ingenious 
theory  is  not  at  all  needed  to  reconcile  the  teachings 
of  geology  with  the  book  of  Genesis,  there  is  no 
doubt  of  its  application  to  many  parts  of  Scripture, 
both  historical  and  prophetical. 

The  question  may  be  asked,  whether  a  warm  and 
fertile  imagination  might  not  account  for  the  origin  of 
such  visions,  as  in  reveries,  or  waking  dreams,  or  in 
the  dramatic  conceptions  of  the  poets.  Such  a  thought 
would  scarcely  occur  to  one  who  regards  the  Bible  as 
entire,  and  remembers  how  all  parts  fit  together,  form- 
ing a  complete  system.  It  is  altogether  different  from 
anything  we  know  of  imagination,  to  see  a  series  of 
visions  by  different  persons  and  in  different  times  and 
places,  during  an  interval  of  more  than  a  thousand 
years,  all  referring  to  the  development  of  the  same 
facts,  and  permeated  by  similar  sentiments.  Again, 
from  the  nature  of  imagination  it  may  be  readily  seen 


lOO  special  Impulses. 

that  it  has  no  power  to  invent  any  new  ideas  what- 
ever. Its  sole  office  is  that  of  combining  ideas  which 
were  otherwise  received.  It  has  no  power  except  to 
form  images  out  of  preconceived  notions.  Now,  the 
visions  of  the  prophets  contained  new  and  original 
ideas,  and  special  predictions  which  could  have  had 
no  elementary  existence  in  their  previous  experience, 
but  were  evidently  real  revelations. 

The  same  thing  is  true  of  revelation  by  means  of 
intelligible  words, — so  often  referred  to  in  the  Scrip- 
tures and  often  introduced  by  the  formula  of  *'  Thus 
saith  the  Lord."  We  may  consider  it  either  as  a  real 
sound,  or  a  strong  impression  on  the  mind,  of  Divine 
origin.  Were  it  other  than  a  real  revelation,  how  does 
it  happen  that  imagination  and  mesmeric  excitement 
have  never  discovered  a  new  spiritual  truth,  or  referred 
to  one  whose  root  and  essence  are  not  in  the  Bible  ? 
Verbal  revelation  has  an  advantage  over  pictorial,  as 
being  better  adapted  to  the  communication  of  abstract 
truth  and  argumentative  reasoning. 

The  last  mode  mentioned,  viz.,  special  impulses 
communicated  by  the  Divine  Spirit  to  the  faculties, 
differs  not  in  kind,  but  only  in  degree  and  application, 
from  the  Divine  aid  which  is  promised  to  every  sin- 
cere and  earnest  Christian.  Supernatural  grace  and 
direction  are  afforded  to  every  one  who  will  do  God's 
will,  that  he  may  "know  of  the  doctrine."  "For 
what  man  knoweth  the  things  of  a  man,  save  the 
spirit  of  man  which  is  in  him  ?  even  so  the  things  of 
God  knoweth  no  man,  but  the  Spirit  of  God.  Now 
we  have  received,  not  the  spirit  of  the  world,  but  the 


Adaptation  of  the  Bible.  loi 

spirit  which  is  of  God  ;  that  we  might  know  the  things 
that  are  freely  given  to  us  of  God."  "  Hereby  we 
know  that  He  abideth  in  us.  by  the  spirit  which  He 
hath  given  us."  In  the  apostles  and  writers  of  Sacred 
Scripture,  however,  the  Holy  Spirit  not  only  impelled 
their  faculties  so  that  they  understood  their  personal 
relation  to  God,  and  by  correspondence  to  that  im- 
pulse were  enabled  to  live  sanctified  lives,  but  it  also 
impelled  them  to  communicate  the  truth  with  such 
clearness  and  propriety  as  to  express  the  mind  of  the 
Spirit.  And  as  the  needle  points  towards  the  pole 
when  touched  with  the  same  magnetic  influence  as 
the  earth  itself,  so  the  mind  which  has  received  the 
Divine  Spirit  recognizes  the  Divine  teaching.  This 
is  the  reason  why  many  unlearned  Christians  are  so 
little  disturbed  by  the  objections  of  infidelity.  From 
this  cause  also  arises  the  wonderful  adaptation  of  the 
teachings  of  Scripture  to  the  ever-varying  conditions 
of  mankind,  notwithstanding  the  diversities  existing 
as  to  their  literal  meaning. 

The  correspondence  of  Scripture  teaching  with 
our  highest  religious  impulses  is  a  subjective  argu- 
ment for  inspiration.  "  In  the  skeptical  writings  of  the 
day  the  argument  is  rarely  stated,  except  to  be  dealt 
with  as  a  form  of  a  natural  but  not  very  harmless 
illusion.  Yet  it  is  an  argument  of  the  greatest  force 
and  importance,  and  an  argument  which,  if  rightly 
handled,  it  is  much  easier  to  set  aside  than  to  answer. 
Is  it  nothing  that  the  Bible  has  spoken  to  millions 
upon  millions  of  hearts,  as  it  were,  with  the  voice  of 

God    himself?     Have  not  its  words    burned    within 
9» 


I02  Study  of  the  Bible  its  own  Reward. 

till  men  have  seen  palpably  the  Divine  in  that  which 
spake  to  them?  Is  it  not  a  fact  that  convictions  on 
the  nature  of  the  Scriptures  deepen  with  deepening 
study  of  them?  Ask  the  simple  man,  to  whom  the 
Bible  has  long  been  the  daily  friend  and  counselor, 
who  reads  and  applies  what  he  reads  as  far  as  his 
natural  powers  enable  him, — ask  him  whether  longer 
and  more  continued  study  has  altered,  to  any  extent, 
his  estimate  of  the  Book  as  a  Divine  revelation. 
What  is  the  invariable  answer?  The  Book  'has 
found  him;'  it  has  consoled  him  in  sorrows  for  which 
there  seemed  no  consolation  on  this  side  the  ^rave. 
it  has  wiped  away  tears  that  it  seemed  could  only  be 
wiped  away  in  that  far  land  where  sadness  shall  be 
no  more;  it  has  pleaded  gently  during  long  seasons 
of  spiritual  coldness;  it  has  infused  strength  in  hours 
of  weakness ;  it  has  calmed  in  moments  of  excite- 
ment; it  has  given  to  better  emotions  a  permanence, 
and  to  stirred-up  feelings  a  reality;  it  has  made 
itself  felt  to  be  what  it  is;  out  of  the  abundance  of 
his  heart  his  mouth  speaks,  and  he  tells  us  with  all 
the  accumulated  convictions  of  an  honest  mind  that, 
if  he  once  deemed  the  Bible  to  be  fully  inspired  on 
the  testimony  of  others,  now  he  knows  it  on  evidence 
that  has  been  brought  home  to  his  own  soul.  He 
has  now  long  had  the  witness  in  himself,  and  that 
witness  he  feels  and  knows  is  unchangeably  and 
enduringly  true. 

"Ask,  again,  the  professed  student  of  Scripture, 
the  scholar,  the  divine,  the  interpreter,  one  who,  to 
what  we  may  term  the  testimony  of  the  soul  in  the 


Inexhaustible  Blessing  in  Study  of  the  Bible,   103 

case  of  the  less  cultivated  reader  can  add  the  testi- 
mony of  the  mind  and  the  spirit, — ask  such  a  one 
whether  increased  familiarity  with  Scripture  has 
quickened  or  obscured  his  perception  of  the  Divine 
within  it,  whether  it  has  led  him  to  higher  or  lower 
views  of  inspiration.  Have  not,  we  may  perhaps 
anxiously  ask,  the  difficulties  of  Scripture  wearied 
him,  its  seeming  discordancies  perplexed,  its  obscu- 
rities depressed  him?  Have  not  the  tenor  of  its 
arguments,  and  the  seeming  want  of  coherence  and 
connection  in  adjacent  sentences,  sometimes  awakened 
uneasy  and  disquieting  thoughts?  What  is  almost 
invariably  the  answer?  *  No ;  far  otherwise.'  Deep- 
ened study  has  brought  its  blessing  and  its  balm.  It 
has  shown  how  what  might  seem  the  greatest  diffi- 
culties often  turn  merely  upon  our  ignorance  of  one 
or  two  unrecorded  facts  or  relations;  it  has  conducted 
to  standing-points  where  in  a  moment  all  that  has 
hitherto  seemed  confused  and  distorted  has  arranged 
itself  in  truest  symmetry  and  in  the  fairest  perspec- 
tive. In  many  an  obscure  passage  our  student  will 
tell  us  how  the  light  has  ofttimes  suddenly  broken, 
how  he  has  been  cheered  by  being  permitted  to 
recognize  and  identify  the  commingling  of  human 
weakness  and  Divine  power,  the  mighty  revelation 
almost  too  great  for  mortal  utterance,  the  'earthen 
vessel'  almost  parting  asunder  from  the  greatness  and 
abundance  of  the  heavenly  treasure  committed  to 
it.  He  will  tell  us,  again,  how  in  many  a  portion 
where  the  logical  connection  has  seemed  suspended 
or  doubtful, — in  one  of  those  discourses,  for  instance. 


I04  TJie  Seers  sometimes  rapt  beyond  themselves. 

of  his  Lord  as  recorded  by  St.  John, — the  true  con- 
nection has  at  length  slowly  and  mysteriously  dis- 
closed itself,  how  he  has  perceived  and  realized  all. 
For  awhile  he  has  felt  himself  thinking  as  his  Saviour 
vouchsafed  to  think,  in  part  beholding  truth  as  those 
Divine  eyes  beheld  it;  for  a  brief  space  his  mind  has 
seemed  to  be  consciously  one  with  the  mind  of 
Christ.  All  this  he  has  perceived  and  felt.  And  he 
will  tell  us,  perchance,  what  has  often  been  the 
sequel, — how  he  has  risen  from  his  desk  and  fallen  on 
his  knees,  and,  with  uplifted  voice,  blessed  and  adored 
Almighty  God  for  his  gift  of  the  Book  of  Life."* 

In  connection  with  this  subject  of  spiritual  impulses 
as  a  mode  of  revelation  there  is  one  principle  which 
must  not  be  overlooked.  The  ancients  believed  that 
one  fully  possessed  with  Divine  impulse  was  merely 
a  passive  agent,  and  did  not  himself  understand,  and 
could  not  explain  to  others,  what  he  spake  while  he 
was  inspired.  The  heathen  regarded  their  sooth- 
sayers and  oracles,  when  they  pretended  to  prophesy, 
as  carried  away  with  a  divine  madness,  a  sacred 
intoxication,  which  deprived  them  of  their  own 
powers  of  consciousness  and  reflection.  The  early 
Jews,  also,  according  to  the  Talmud,  taught  that,  in 
many  instances,  the  prophets  themselves  did  not 
understand  the  import  of  what  they  predicted.  Now, 
while  it  was  generally  true  that  the  spirits  of  the 
prophets  were  subject  to  the  prophets,  yet  there  are 
parts  of  Scripture  where  this  principle  of  passivity  in 

*  Rev   C.  J.  Ellicott,  in  "  Aids  to  Faith." 


PAble  anticipates  Science.  105 

those  inspired  is  clearly  recognized.  Thus,  it  is  said 
of  Balaam  that  the  Lord  put  words  in  his  mouth. 
Numb,  xxiii.  5.  So  Caiaphas  the  high-priest  un- 
wittingly prophesied  that  it  was  expedient  that  one 
should  die  for  the  people.  John,  xi.  49-52.  St.  Peter 
also  affirms  that  the  prophets  searched  diligently 
lespecting  the  prophecies  of  Christ  which  were  made 
through  them.    I.  Pet.  i.  1 1 ;  II.  Pet.  i.  20. 

Analogous  to  this  form  of  inspiration  are  those 
passages  of  Scripture  in  which  language  is  so  used 
as  to  develop  thought  and  anticipate  discoveries  in 
science.  Thus,  in  Genesis,  where  it  is  said  that  God 
made  two  great  lights,  the  Hebrew  word  has  the 
sense  of  light-bearers,  thus  anticipating  the  modern 
discovery  that  light  is  separate  from  the  body  of  the 
sun.  Another  passage  of  a  similar  kind  is  found  in 
the  sublime  description  given  of  Wisdom  in  the  book 
of  Proverbs:  "Before  the  mountains  were  settled,  be- 
fore the  hills  was  I  brought  forth :  while  as  yet  He 
had  not  made  the  earth,  nor  the  fields,  nor  the  highest 
part  of  the  dust  of  the  world."  But  recently  geology 
came  to  the  conclusion  that  the  highest  parts  of  the 
earth  were  the  oldest,  yet  the  Bible  revealed  it  ages 
ago.  We  can  but  allude  to  the  subject  of  such 
incidental  evidences  of  supernatural  knowledge;  to 
point  them  out  is  the  province  of  a  commentator. 

The  majority  of  modern  theologians  hold  to  three 
degrees  of  inspiration  as  applied  to  the  Scriptures. 
The  first  and  highest  degree  is  the  revelation  of 
things  before  unknown  to  the  writers.  The  second 
degree  is  the  security  against  error  which  God  af- 


io6  Revelation  chiefly  illustrative. 

forded  to  the  writers  in  the  exhibition  of  facts  and 
doctrines  with  which  they  were  already  acquainted 
The  third  degree  is  the  authority  given  by  the  ap- 
probation of  inspired  men  to  writings  originally  com- 
posed without  inspiration,  as  the  genealogies  and 
historical  compilations  found  in  some  parts  of  the 
Old  Testament,  etc. 

Let  us  now  apply  these  principles  to  interpretation. 
From  what  we  have  seen  respecting  the  mode  of 
spiritual  communications,  it  follows  that  every  reve- 
lation to  the  intellect  must  necessarily  be  chiefly 
illustrative.  Spiritual  and  Divine  truths  come  to  us 
through  earthly  mediums.  The  vision  of  the  ster 
symbolized  or  exhibited  the  truth  in  natural  imageiy, 
since  no  other  was  possible.  The  words  which  fell 
upon  the  ear  of  the  prophet  were  used  in  their  con- 
ventional meaning,  since  no  other  meaning  would 
have  conveyed  the  idea.  Hence  it  also  follows  that 
revelation  conformed  necessarily  to  the  educational 
status  of  those  to  whom  it  came.  It  is  true  that  in 
some  instances  the  seer  was  rapt,  or  carried  away, 
beyond  his  own  sphere  of  thought;  but  this  was 
rather  exceptional  than  usual.  Had  it  been  com- 
mon, the  revelation  would  have  been  unintelligible 
to  the  generation  which  received  it.  These  instances 
of  direct  verbal  inspiration  are  marks  of  miraculous 
knowledge,  and  are  external  Divine  evidences  of 
authority  pertaining  to  the  class  of  prophecy. 

We  gather,  therefore,  from  the  manner  of  the  rev- 
elation that  the  Bible  should  be  explained  in  its 
grammatical  sense,  as  we  would  interpret  any  other 


Seemuig  Contradictions.  107 

book,  but  with  special  reference  to  the  language, 
customs,  and  ideas  of  the  age  of  the  world  in  which 
it  was  written ;  remembering  always  that  it  is  a  rev- 
elation of  spiritual  truth  communicated  chiefly  in 
illustrations  and  figurative  language,  and  making 
use  of  the  history,  chronology,  and  other  sciences 
of  the  age  as  vehicles  or  accessories. 

This  principle  will  explain  those  seeming  contra- 
dictions which  result  from  the  use  of  popular  lan- 
guage, as  when  Joshua  commanded  the  sun  and 
moon  to  stand  still, — the  sun  going  forth  from  one 
end  of  heaven  to  the  other,  etc.  It  will  even  justify 
many  actual  errors  in  science,  chronology,  and  his- 
tory, should  such  be  found  to  exist.  The  Scriptures 
were  not  intended  to  teach  men  these  things,  but  to 
reveal  what  relates  to  man's  connection  with  moral 
law,  and  the  spiritual  world,  and  his  salvation  from 
sin.  In  order  to  teach  these  truths,  the  biblical 
writers  availed  themselves  of  the  popular  language 
and  the  current  science  and  literature  of  the  age 
in  which  they  lived,  so  as  to  be  intelligible  to  their 
contemporaries.  As  in  the  present  day  a  man  may 
be  well  instructed  in  the  mysteries  of  the  kingdom 
of  heaven,  and  "  have  an  unction  from  the  Holy 
One,"  while  ignorant  of  or  a  disbeliever  in  the  teach- 
ings of  modern  science,  so  likewise  it  was  possible 
to  those  who  first  received  religious  truth  and  were 
commissioned  to  declare  it.  The  presence  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  preserved  from  errors  in  science  no  more 
in  the  one  case  than  in  the  other.  A  revelation  of 
spiritual    truth,    of    universal    interest   to    mankind 


1 08      Science  not  to  be  sought  in  the  Scriptures, 

might  have  been  made  to  the  Bedouin  Arabs  or 
Chinese.  Yet  in  reality  the  majority  of  inspired  men 
were  far  from  ignorant.  Many  of  the  writers  of  Scrip- 
ture were  learned  in  the  scholarship  of  their  day,  and 
through  them  the  most  lucid  accounts  of  ancient 
times,  and  fragments  of  ancient  literature,  and  copies 
or  abstracts  from  ancient  genealogies,  have  come 
down  to  us  which  would  otherwise  have  been  utterly 
lost.  Yet  whoever  undertakes  to  construct  a  science 
out  of  their  incidental  allusions  will  find  it  labor  in 
vain.  It  was  no  part  of  their  mission  to  teach  science. 
One  may  as  well  seek  to  study  surveying  in  a  bi- 
ography of  Washington  as  the  details  of  cosmogony 
or  chronology  in  Genesis.  This  is  the  mistake  of 
those  who  write  "Harmonies  of  the  Gospels,"  as  well 
as  others.  It  may,  indeed,  gratify  a  laudable  curiosity 
to  examine  the  chronological  succession  of  recorded 
events,  and  may  furnish  additional  confirmation  of 
historic  fidelity,  but  it  is  not  necessary  to  prove  the 
truth  of  the  Evangelists.  Dr.  Smith  has  well  said 
that  "the  inspiration  of  an  historical  writing  will 
consist  in  its  truth,  and  in  its  selection  of  events. 
Everything  narrated  must  be  substantially  and  ex- 
actly true;  and  the  comparison  of  the  gospels  one 
with  another  offers  us  nothing  that  does  not  answer 
to  this  test.  There  are  differences  of  arrangement 
of  events ;  here  some  details  of  a  narrative  or  a  dis- 
course are  supplied  which  are  wanted  there;  and 
if  the  writer  had  professed  to  follow  a  strict  chrono- 
logical order,  or  had  pretended  that  his  record  was 
not   only  true  but   complete,  then   one  inversion  of 


Human  Element  in  the  Bible.  109 

order,  or  one  omission  of  a  syllable,  would  convict 
him  of  inaccuracy.  But  if  it  is  plain — if  it  is  all  but 
avowed — that  minute  chronological  data  are  not  part 
of  the  writer's  purpose, — if  it  is  also  plain  that  no- 
thing: but  a  selection  of  the  facts  is  intended,  or,  in- 
deed,  possible  (John,  xxi.  25),  then  the  proper  test  to 
apply  is,  whether  each  gives  us  a  picture  of  the  life 
and  ministry  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth  that  is  self-con- 
sistent and  consistent  with  the  others,  such  as  would 
be  suitable  to  the  use  of  those  who  were  to  believe 
on  his  Name ;  for  this  is  their  evident  intention."* 

Many  of  the  apparent  contradictions  in  the  Bible 
may  be  explained  by  the  mistakes  of  transcribers,  or  in 
some  other  way  equally  natural;  but,  "as  the  Bishop 
of  London  has  well  remarked,  '  When  laborious  in- 
genuity has  exerted  itself  to  collect  a  whole  store  of 
such  difficulties,  supposing  them  to  be  real,  what  on 
earth  does  it  signify  ?  They  may  quietly  float  away 
without  our  being  able  to  solve  them,  if  we  bear  in 
mind  the  acknowledged  fact  that  there  is  a  human 
element  in  the  Bible.* 

"  What  if  many  of  the  numbers  given  in  Exodus 
should,  as  Bishop  Colenso  asserts,  be  inaccurate? 
What  is  to  be  gained  by  assertions  or  denials  relative 
to  matters  which  have  forever  passed  out  of  the  reach 
of  our  verification  ?  What  if,  here  and  there,  a  law 
should  seem  to  us  strange  and  unaccountable ;  an 
event  difficult  to  comprehend  ;  a  statement  to  involve 
an  apparent  contradiction?     What  has  all  this  to  do 

*  Smith's  New  Testament  History. 
10 


1 1  o  Every  Part  of  Scnpture  useful. 

with  the  essential  value  of  the  book  ?  Absolutely 
nothing,  unless  thereby  its  truthfulness  can  be  set 
aside. 

"  If  error  were  in  the  Bible  cunningly  interspersed 
with  truth,  the  case  would  be  different.  But  it  is  not 
so.  The  book,  as  a  whole  and  as  it  stands,  is  whole- 
some and  useful ;  each  portion  of  it  has  its  proper 
place  and  is  adequate  to  fulfill  its  appointed  end. 
Everything  has  its  purpose  to  fulfill  and  its  object  to 
accomplish,  whether,  properly  speaking,  inspired  or 
not.  Nothing  may  be  despised,  nothing  pronounced 
superfluous.  But  everything  in  the  book  does  not 
take  hold  alike  on  the  heart  and  conscience.  It  may 
be  very  interesting,  as  indeed  it  is,  to  trace  on  the 
map  the  various  journeyings  of  St.  Paul,  or  the  wan- 
derings of  the  children  of  Israel  in  the  wilderness; 
to  note  a  hundred  undesigned  coincidences  ;  to  study 
and  try  to  reconcile  two  apparently  conflicting  gene- 
alogies ;  to  examine  into  and  to  discuss  the  chronol- 
ogy, the  geography,  or  the  natural  history  of  Pales- 
tine. All  this  and  much  riiore  may  be  done ;  and  it 
is  fitting  that  in  its  time  and  place  it  should  be  done; 
yet  it  may  be  accomplished  without  the  slightest 
moral  or  spiritual  benefit  arising  to  the  man  who  is 
thus  occupied."  * 

From  the  principle  of  interpretation  referred  to 
above,  we  may  deduce  the  rules  laid  down  by  theo- 
logians as  applicable  to  the  Scriptures.  Ellicott  has 
briefly  summed  them  up  as  follows :  "  Interpret  gram- 


*  "  Liber  Librorum'.' 


Rules  of  Interpretation.  \  \  i 

matically,  historically,  contextually,  and  minutely,'' 
and  "  interpret  according  to  the  analogy  of  faith." 

The  first  rule  is  to  interpret  grammatically.  This 
would  seem  almost  superfluous ;  yet  "  there  is  a  strong 
desire  evinced  in  many  quarters  to  evade  the  rule,  and, 
under  cover  of  escape  from  pedantry,  to  endeavor  to 
make  Scripture  mean  what  we  think,  or  what  we  wish, 
not  what  it  really  says  to  us."  In  place  of  the  nat- 
ural and  obvious  meaning,  we  are  exhorted  to  inter- 
pret  by  means  of  mystical  "  correspondences,"  or  by 
our  own  "  verifying  faculty"  to  rectify  the  imperfect 
utterances  of  words  "of  which  it  is  assumed  we  have 
caught  the  real  and  intended  meaning."  Such  a  pro- 
cedure applied  to  other  literature  would  produce  end- 
less confusion.  On  such  a  principle  "  Mother  Goose's 
Melodies"  might  be  regarded  as  a  treatise  on  moral 
philosophy,  and  romance  be  extracted  from  the  most 
didactic  compositions. 

St.  George  Mivart  quotes  from  Mr.  Tylor's  "  Primi- 
tive Culture  "  an  amusing  parody  of  certain  recent  at- 
tempts to  explain  almost  all  early  history  and  legend 
by  myths  of  dawn  and  sunrise.  It  will  equally  apply 
to  some  violations  of  our  first  rule.  Mr.  Tylor  says, 
with  respect  to  the  "  Song  of  Sixpence :"  "  Obviously, 
the  four-and-twenty  blackbirds  are  the  four-and-twenty 
hours,  and  the  pie  that  holds  them  is  the  underlying 
earth  covered  with  the  overarching  sky.  How  true  a 
touch  of  nature  it  is  that  when  the  pie  is  opened — that 
is,  when  day  breaks — the  birds  begin  to  sing  !  The 
king  is  the  sun,  and  his  counting  out  his  money  is 
pouring  out  the  sunshine,  the  golden  shower  of  Danae. 


1 1 2  Rules  of  Interpretation. 

The  queen  is  the  moon,  and  her  transparent  honey 
the  moonlight.  The  maid  is  the  rosy-fingered  dawn, 
who  rises  before  the  sun  her  master,  and  hangs  out 
the  clouds,  his  clothes,  across  the  sky.  The  particular 
blackbird  who  so  tragically  ends  the  tale  by  snipping 
off  her  nose  is  the  hour  of  sunrise."  Mr.  Tylor 
similarly  explains  the  life  and  death  of  Julius  Caesar.* 

The  second  rule  is  to  interpret  historically.  This 
requires  us  to  illustrate  by  reference  to  history,  topog- 
raphy, and  antiquities.  We  should  transport  our- 
selves in  thought  to  the  age  and  country  in  which  the 
writer  lived,  and  the  scenes  surrounding  him,  so  as  to 
realize,  as  far  as  possible,  his  original  conception.  Our 
only  object  is  to  find  the  idea  intended  by  the  inspir- 
ing Spirit.  This  necessitates,  of  course,  industrious 
study  and  research,  in  order  that  the  full  force  of  the 
language  may  be  understood.  We  need  not  expect 
to  develop  the  meaning  of  Scripture  with  less  labor 
than  scholars  bestow  upon  other  ancient  writings. 

The  third  rule  is  to  interpret  under  the  limitation-^ 
assigned  by  the  context.  This  is  to  inquire  for  the 
design  of  the  writer,  and  to  give  the  words  not  only 
the  meaning  but  the  application  he  intended  in  that 
place  where  we  find  them.  The  want  of  attending  to 
this  rule  has  been  the  origin  of  many  a  fanciful  and 
illogical  interpretation. 

The  fourth  rule  is  to  elicit  the  full  significance  of 
all  details.  The  importance  of  this  rule  will  be  evi- 
dent when  we  remember  "  that  in  every  case  words 

*  Lessons  from  Nature,  p.  146. 


Rules  of  Interpretation,  113 

are  the  appointed  media  of  ideas  and  sentiments,  and 
believe,  in  the  case  of  Scripture,  that  both  the  ideas 
are  heaven-sent  and  the  sentiment  inspired."  This 
rule,  however,  admits  of  but  limited  application  in 
the  case  of  metaphors  and  parables,  where  the  general 
teaching  of  the  whole  is  evidently  intended,  rather 
than  a  minute  application  of  details. 

The  fifth  rule  is  to  interpret  according  to  the  anal- 
ogy of  faith.  This  is  a  scriptural  term,  used  by  St. 
Paul  in  Rom.  xii.  6.  We  consider  it  synonymous 
with  several  other  passages,  as  "  the  Scriptures,"  **  all 
the  law,"  "  the  mouth  of  all  the  prophets,"  etc.  It 
might  be  rendered  "  the  general  tenor  of  the  Scrip- 
tures." Mr.  Ellicott  refers  it  to  the  creeds,  as  the 
authorized  exposition  of  the  faith  of  the  church  ;  but 
this  elevates  a  merely  human  production  to  a  superi- 
ority over  Divine  revelation.  As  the  Bible  is  a  com- 
munication of  spiritual  truth  in  human  language,  it  is 
not  to  be  classed  with  any  merely  human  composition 
whatever,  and  mi!lst  be  interpreted  in  accordance  with 
its  own  design  and  general  meaning.  Creeds  are 
useful  as  showing  what  learned  and  pious  men  have 
gathered  from  Scripture  teaching,  and  as  compen- 
diums  of  Bible  truth ;  but,  after  all,  we  must  refer  them 
'*  to  the  law  and  to  the  testimony ;  for  if  they  speak 
not  according  to  this  word,  there  is  no  life  in  them." 

**  It  is  thus  that  philosophy  interprets  natural  ap- 
pearances. When  once  a  general  law  is  established, 
particular  facts  are  placed  under  it,  and  any  appear- 
ance that  seems  contradictory  is  specially  examined ; 

and  of  the  two  explanations  of  the  apparent  anomaly 
10* 


1 14  Rules  of  Interpretation. 

that  one  is  selected  which  harmonizes  best  with  the 
general  law."  * 

Respecting  diversities  of  interpretation,  the  author 
of  the  book  entitled  "  Liber  Librorum"  (from  many 
of  whose  teachings  we  dissent)  has  well  said  that 
"only  as  Scripture  is  allowed  to  adapt  itself  to  the 
peculiar  mental  and  moral  condition  of  each  individ- 
ual, do  its  words  become  *  spirit  and  life'  to  him,  ruling 
his  conduct  and  reigning  in  his  affections.  Instead, 
therefore,  of  finding  an  occasion  of  stumbling  in  the 
fact  that  diversities  of  view  on  many  points  always 
have,  and  probably  always  will,  characterize  Chris- 
tians, we  might  rather  discover  in  the  wonderful  adap- 
tation of  Divine  teaching  to  each,  evidence  of  the 
source  from  which  it  comes.  For  it  is  at  once  one 
and  yet  diverse;  unchanging  and  yet  endowed  with 
a  capacity  of  all  but  infinite  fitness  to  every  variety 
of  character.  Just  as  material  light,  although  the 
same  to  all,  is  yet  different  to  persons  of  imperfect 
vision,  suffering  under  diverse  forms  of  disease,  so  is 
spiritual  illumination  a  different  thing  to  men  in  dif- 
ferent stages  of  the  Divine  life,  with  vaiying  intel- 
lectual powers,  and,  above  all,  with  conflicting  wills, 
passions,  and  interests;  and  just  as  it  would  be  im- 
possible to  temper  the  light  of  the  sun  so  that  it 
should  leave  precisely  the  same  impression  on  every 
optic  nerve,  whether  sound  or  otherwise,  so  is  it 
neither  possible  nor  desirable  that  Divine  truth  should 
come  home  to  the  man  who  is  jaundiced  by  his  pre- 


*  Angus's  Handbook. 


spirit  of  an  Interpreter,  1 1 5 

judices,  or  drugged  by  his  sins,  precisely  as  it  does 
to  the  simple  and  righteous  soul  who  desires  to  know 
only  that  he  may  obey." 

If  we  admit  the  Divine  inspiration  of  the  Scriptures, 
we  should  approach  their  interpretation  in  a  teachable 
spirit,  with  earnest  prayers  for  the  promised  illumi- 
nation of  the  self-same  Spirit  by  whom  they  were  first 
communicated.  Nor  should  we  imagine  that  all  the 
truth  contained  in  Holy  Writ  can  be  bounded  by  our 
own  conceptions.  A  good  model  for  a  Christian 
student  may  be  found  in  the  following  passage  from 
St.  Augustine's  "Confessions:"  **I  would  hear  and 
understand  how  *  In  the  beginning  Thou  madest  the 
heaven  and  earth.'  Moses  wrote  this,  wrote  and  de- 
parted,— passed  hence  from  Thee  to  Thee.  Nor  is 
he  now  before  me  ;  for  if  he  were,  I  would  hold  him, 
and  ask  him,  and  beseech  him  by  Thee  to  open  these 
things  unto  me,  and  would  lay  the  ears  of  my  body 
to  the  sounds  bursting  out  of  his  mouth.  And  should 
he  speak  Hebrew,  in  vain  would  it  strike  on  my  senses, 
nor  would  aught  of  it  touch  my  mind ;  but  if  Latin, 
I  should  know  what  he  said.  But  whence  should  I 
know  whether  he  spake  the  truth  ?  Yea,  and  if  I 
knew  this  also,  should  I  know  it  from  him  ?  Truly 
within  me,  within,  in  the  chamber  of  my  thoughts. 
Truth,  who  is  neither  Hebrew,  nor  Greek,  nor  Latin, 
nor  barbarian,  without  organs  of  voice,  or  tongue,  or 
sound  of  syllables,  would  say,  *It  is  truth;'  and  I 
forthwith  should  say  confidently  to  that  man  of  thine, 
*  Thou  sayest  truly.'  Whereas,  then,  I  cannot  inquire 
of  Moses,  Thee  I  beseech,  O  Truth,  being  filled  with 


Ii6  Various  Interpretations  may  be  true. 

whom,  he  spake  truth  ;  Thee,  my  God,  I  beseech,  for- 
give my  sins  ;  and  Thou,  who  gavest  him  to  speak 
these  things,  give  to  me  also  to  understand  them." 
Augustine  understood  the  "  heaven"  to  mean  that 
spiritual  and  incorporeal  creation  which  cleaves  to 
God  unintermittingly,  always  beholding  his  counte- 
nance; and  "  earth,"  the  formless  matter  whereof  the 
corporeal  creation  was  afterwards  formed ;  but  he  was 
very  far  from  so  insisting  on  his  own  views  as  to  re- 
ject other  interpretations,  since  he  believed  that  Scrip- 
ture was  so  deep  and  full  that  manifold  senses  might 
be  drawn  from  it,  all  consistent  with  truth.  He  re- 
marks, "  So  when  one  says,  '  Moses  meant  as  I  do,* 
and  another,  *  Nay,  but  as  I  do,'  I  suppose  that  I  speak 
more  reverently,  *  Why  not  rather  as  both,  if  both  be 
true  ?'  And  if  there  be  a  third  or  a  fourth,  yea,  if  any 
other  seeth  any  other  truth  in  those  words,  why  may 
not  he  be  believed  to  have  seen  all  these,  through 
whom  the  One  God  hath  tempered  the  Holy  Scriptures 
to  the  senses  of  many,  who  should  see  therein  things 
true  but  diverse  ?"  If  such  a  spirit  generally  prevailed 
among  interpreters,  there  would  be  greater  unity  in 
the  church,  and  less  infidelity  to  oppose.  Truth  is  a 
unit,  but  it  is  a  polygon  also;  and  the  many-sided 
appropriateness  of  Scripture  is  evidence  that  it  is  es- 
sential truth.  This  should  never  be  lost  sight  of  by 
the  student  who  would  penetrate  deeper  than  the  mere 
surface  of  things,  and  know  the  "  mind  of  the  Spirit," 
and  "  the  things  which  are  freely  given  to  us  of  God." 


CHAPTER  V. 
THE  REVELATION   OF   GOD. 


"  Blind  metaphysical  necessity,  which  is  certainly  the  same  always  atd 
everywhere,  could  produce  no  vanety  of  tnmgs.  All  that  diversity  of 
natural  things  which  we  find  suited  to  different  times  and  places  could 
arise  from  nothing  but  the  ideas  and  will  of  a  Being  necessarily  existing." 

Sir  Isaac  Newton. 


("7) 


CONTENTS. 

The  Idea  of  God  fundamental  to  Morality — Origin  of  the  Idea — Tend- 
ency of  Mankind  to  Idolatry  and  Pantheism— Yet  Reason  finds  the 
Idea  of  a  Personal  God  necessary — Scripture  Representation  of 
Deity — Names  of  God — I  Am  that  I  Am — Origin  of  the  Inscrip- 
tion at  Delphi — Representation  of  Moses  and  the  Prophets — Fullest 
Revelation  of  God  in  the  Incarnation — The  Scripture  Representa- 
tion of  God  illustrated  by  the  Discoveries  of  Astronomy  andr  the 
Microscope. 


(ii8) 


OF   THK 


CHAPTER    V. 

THE   REVELATION   OF   GOD. 

The  fundamental  principle  of  religion — the  basis 
of  all  religious  ideas — is  the  existence  of  a  personal 
yet  infinite  God,  the  Great  First  Cause  of  all  things. 
What  can  reason  tell  us  of  this?  How  does  the  Bible 
represent  it  ?  Are  the  views  of  the  Bible  in  accord- 
ance with  the  legitimate  deductions  of  science  ?  Such 
are  the  questions  we  propose. 

The  idea  we  form  of  God  underlies  all  our  morality, 
and  modifies  every  scheme  of  religious  opinion  what- 
soever, whether  pagan  or .  Christian  or  skeptical. 
Modern  infidelity  teaches  that  God  is  not  a  personal, 
intelligent  Being,  but  a  sort  of  universal  force,  or  soul 
of  the  world,  the  various  manifestations  of  which 
make  up  the  phenomena  of  the  universe.  We  have 
seen  that  arguments  against  pantheism  may  be  drawn 
from  every  branch  of  science, — physical,  mental,  and 
moral ;  still,  this  idea  of  deified  force,  or  eternal  fatal- 
ism, distinguishes  its  adherents,  tinges  all  their  litera- 
ture, and  is  the  foundation  of  all  their  philosophy  and 
morality.  Development  and  Necessity  are  the  two 
poles  of  this  system,  around  which  all  the  thoughts 
of  its  votaries  revolve.  On  the  other  hand,  Christi- 
anity is  based  upon  the  fact  of  a  personal  and  infi- 
nitely perfect  God,  who  holds  to  our  race  the  relation 

("9) 


1 20  Origin  of  the  Idea  of  God. 

of  Father,  and  has  constituted  mankind  a  common 
brotherhood.  From  these  relations  flow  all  our  obli- 
gations and  duties  of  worship  and  reciprocity  and 
benevolence.  Take  away  from  our  creed  the  father- 
hood of  God  and  the  brotherhood  of  man,  and  you 
leave  behind  nothing  but  the  worship  of  brute  force. 
Call  it  development,  or  evolution,  or  necessity,  or 
anything  else,  there  is  nothing  left  for  reverence,  if 
we  discard  a  personal  God,  but  unreasoning,  unfeel- 
ing force.  All  the  relations  and  duties  of  life  are 
by  such  a  scheme  interfered  with,  and  the  law  of  the 
strongest  becomes  our  only  rule  of  right.  It  is  not, 
therefore,  a  merely  harmless  speculation,  and  a  matter 
indifferent,  whether  we  believe  in  God  or  Fate ;  the  very 
foundations  of  society  are  based  upon  such  beliefs. 

The  question  of  the  origin  of  the  idea  of  God,  like 
that  of  the  origin  of  matter,  or  life,  or  language,  or 
society,  is  one  respecting  which  there  is  a  diversity 
of  opinion.  Some  suppose  that  the  mind  of  man  at 
his  birth  is  like  a  piece  of  blank  paper,  upon  which 
nothing  is  written,  and  consider  that  we  learn  the 
idea  of  God,  as  well  as  other  ideas,  by  experience  and 
observation.  Others  believe  that  the  mind  is  not  a 
blank,  but  is  furnished  with  a  small  stock  of  rational 
principles,  which  are  the  germs  of  future  knowledge, 
and  that  among  these  germs  is  the  idea  of  God, 
Others,  again, — on  the  grounds  of  philosophy  and 
Scripture,  as  we  think, — believe  that  the  ideas  of  God 
and  duty  were  given  originally  by  revelation  from 
heaven,  and  that  the  religious  opinions  of  mankind 
were  all  derived  from  that  revelation,  either  by  means 


Grecian  Theism  impersonal,  \2\ 

of  the  Scriptures,  or  by  traditions  of  the  same  truths 
flowing  through  channels  more  or  less  pure  from  the 
earliest  ages  of  the  world. 

Whatever  belief  we  may  entertain  as  to  the  origin 
of  the  idea  of  God,  it  is  important  to  inquire  how  much 
we  can  learn  or  have  learned  of  God  without  the  aid 
of  the  Scriptures,  except  the  indirect  knowledge  flow- 
ing from  the  influence  which  they  may  have  exerted 
upon  the  opinions  of  the  age.  This  will  manifest  the 
tendency  of  humanity  when  left  to  itself  This  ques- 
tion history  supplies  us  with  the  means  of  answering. 
The  resemblance  of  the  primitive  religious  ideas  of 
the  Greeks  to  those  of  the  Bible  is  very  distinctly 
traceable  in  their  mythological  fables  and  poetry,  and 
these  resemblances  all  their  subsequent  speculations 
could  not  wholly  obliterate ;  yet  with  especial  refer- 
ence to  the  Grecian  philosophy  the  apostle  wrote, 
"  The  world  by  wisdom  knew  not  God. '  The  people, 
indeed,  worshiped  many  gods,  but  to  none  of  them 
did  they  attribute  the  character  of  an  intelligent  First 
Cause.  They  worshiped  the  air  as  Jupiter,  the  ocean 
as  Neptune,  and  other  personifications  of  natural 
phenomena  or  of  abstract  qualities;  but  the  true  idea 
of  a  Creator  was  unknown.  The  religion  of  the 
philosophers  was  the  same  pantlieism  which  is  sought 
to  be  restored  by  modern  infidelity.  None  of  them, 
not  even  Socrates,  nor  Plato,  nor  Aristotle,  conceived 
the  idea  of  a  personal  God. 

Mr.  Farrar   says,*  "  All   philosophic  theology  in 


*  Science  in  Theology. 
11 


122  Ionic  School. 

Greece  was  pantheistic,  i.e.  if  pantheism  be  made  to 
mean  any  theory  which  admits  an  impersonal  First 
Cause,  and  to  include — ist,  the  theory  which  teaches 
an  anhna  inundi ;  2d,  that  which  regards  God  as 
the  sum  total  of  all  that  exists  (pantheism  proper);  and 
3d,  that  which  regards  the  Deity  as  an  abstraction, 
synonymous  with  the  idea  of  perfection.  Thales 
might  possibly  represent  the  first  of  these  views ;  the 
Eleatics,  the  second;  Anaxagoras,  Plato,  and  Aris- 
totle, the  third." 

Cudworth  asserts  that  "  Plato,  in  his  tenth  book  of 
Laws,  professedly  opposing  the  atheists,  and  under- 
taking to  prove  the  existence  of  a  Deity,  does,  not- 
withstanding, ascend  no  higher  than  to  the  Psyche, 
or  Universal  Mundane  Soul,  as  the  self-moving  prin- 
ciple, and  the  immediate  or  proper  cause  of  all  the 
motion  which  is  in  the  world."  This  opinion  is  ably 
opposed  by  Professor  Tayler  Lewis,  who  regards 
Plato's  use  of  the  term  ayaOuq  as  including  all  moral 
attributes.  Other  scholars,  however,  consider  him 
to  mean  by  it  only  order  or  harmony. 

Thales  regarded  water  as  the  «m,  or  originating 
element,  of  the  universe,  doubtless  from  some  per- 
verted tradition  of  the  Mosaic  account  of  the  creation, 
where  it  is  said  that  *'  the  Spirit  of  God  was  brooding 
over  the  waters."  The  succeeding  hypotheses  of 
Anaximander  and  Anaximenes,  one  of  whom  held 
that  air,  and  the  other  that  infinite  space,  was  the  first 
principle,  were  refinements  upon  the  theory  of  Thales. 

The  Ionic  or  atheistic  school  contended  that  there 
is  nothing  in  the  universe  but  phenomena, — all  things 


Modern  Pantheists. 


123 


being  in  perpetual  flow  ;  nothing  really  being,  but  all 
things  ever  becoming;  as  Homer  represents  when  he 
says  that  Oceanus  is  the  origin  of  the  gods,  etc.  The 
manner  in  which  Plato  represents  Socrates  as  oppos- 
ing this  view,  and  contending  that  the  laws  of  our 
being  compel  us  to  affirm  the  real  and  not  merely 
the  relative  existence  of  the  Beautiful,  the  Good,  etc., 
would  seem  to  favor  the  views  of  Professor  Lewis 
with  respect  to  that  author ;  yet  the  general  fact  of 
the  pantheistic  or  atheistic  tendency  of  Greek  phi- 
losophy is  undeniable.  Thus,  ^schylus  sings,  -^ew? 
sVrti/  aiOi^p^  Zsh'Z  ^i  yr,^  Zthq  di  of)/>avi)c,  Zsh^  rd  Tzdvra. 
"Jupiter  is  the  air;  Jupiter  is  the  earth;  Jupiter 
is  the  heaven;  all  is  Jupiter." 

This  materialistic  philosophy  was  imported  into 
Greece  from  the  Orient,  where  it  still  constitutes  the 
foundation  of  Brahminism  and  Buddhism.  From 
Greece  it  passed  into  Rome,  and,  through  the  Arabian 
restorers  of  Grecian  literature,  into  modern  thought. 
In  its  various  forms  of  skeptical  philosophy  or  heathen 
idolatry,  it  has  ever  been  the  chief  antagonist  of  re- 
vealed truth,  and  probably  will  be  until  the  end  of 
the  world.  At  the  present  day  it  is  encouraged  by 
the  rhapsodies  of  the  spiritualists,  by  crude  and  ill- 
digested  theories  respecting  electricity,  by  avowed 
skeptics,  and  by  a  spirit  of  theorizing  indulged  in  by 
certain  writers  who,  but  for  their  speculative  tenden- 
cies, might  establish  a  reputation  as  men  of  science. 

The  development  of  the  human  mind  in  the  pro- 
gress of  history  by  means  of  religion  and  science,  if 
it  has  not  been  a  source  of  direct  information  respect- 


124  'S'/r  Isaac  Newtori  on  Necessity. 

tng  the  Divine  existence,  has  sufficed  to  satisfy  the 
rational  inquirer  that  pantheism,  as  well  as  atheism, 
is  wholly  unreasonable.  Men  of  the  deepest  scientific 
research — the  master-mijids  of  the  world — unite  in 
testifying  to  their  belief  in  a  personal  Great  First 
Cause.  Even  Kant,  who  declares  that  the  objective 
reality  of  a  personal  God  can  neither  be  proved  nor 
disproved  by  pure  reason,  acknowledges  that  the  idea 
is  necessary  to  reason, — that  it  "  perfects  and  crowns 
the  entire  system  of  human  cognitions."  Sir  Isaac 
Newton  concludes  his  immortal  Principia  by  declar- 
ing that  "  this  most  beautiful  system  of  the  sun, 
planets,  and  comets  could  only  proceed  from  the 
counsel  and  dominion  of  an  intelligent  and  powerful 
Being.  .  .  .  This  Being,"  he  says,  "  governs  all  things, 
not  as  the  soul  of  the  world,  but  as  Lord  over  all  ;'* 
and  the  argument  proving  that  he  is  not  the  soul  of 
the  world  he  sums  up  in  these  words  :  "  Blind  meta- 
physical necessity,  which  is  certainly  the  same  always 
and  everywhere,  could  produce  no  variety  of  things. 
All  that  diversity  of  natural  things  which  -we  find 
suited  to  different  times  and  places  could  arise  from 
nothing  but  the  ideas  and  will  of  a  Being  necessarily 
existing.'*  This  argument  of  Newton's  is  a  powerful 
one  against  the  skepticism  of  the  present  day.  We 
may  also  see  the  unreasonableness  of  atheistic  pan- 
theism by  the  following  considerations.  The  universe 
is  either  self-caused  or  create.d  by  another.  If  self- 
caused,  it  was  eternal ;  and  if  created,  the  first  cause 
must  have  been  eternal.  Now,  an  eternal  being  must 
be  a  self-existent,  independent,  and  necessary  being. 


Rational  Ai'gument  for  a  Deity.  125 

Either  the  universe  or  its  Creator  must  therefore 
have  these  characteristics.  It  is  also  plain  that  the 
intelligent  existences  in  the  universe  must  have  sprung 
from  intelligence,  since  no  being  can  communicate 
power  with  which  it  is  not  possessed.  Hence  the 
fountain  of  existence  must  be  intelligent,  as  well  as 
necessary  and  eternal.  Is  the  universe,  then,  intelli- 
gent, or  has  it  originated  from  the  intelligence  of 
another?  **  Matter  cannot  be  intelligent  as  a  whole 
without  being  intelligent  in  every  atom,  for  a  con- 
course of  unintelligent  atoms  can  never  produce  in- 
telligence ;  but  if  it  be  intelligent  in  every  atom,  then 
we  are  perpetually  meeting  with  unintelligent  com- 
pounds resulting  from  intelligent  elements.  If,  again, 
matter  be  essentially  eternal,  but  at  the  same  time 
essentially  unintelligent,  then,  an  intelligent  prin- 
ciple being  traced  in  the  world,  and  even  in  man 
himself,  we  are  put  in  possession  of  two  coeternal 
independent  principles,  destitute  of  all  relative  con- 
nection and  common  medium  of  action."* 

The  doctrine  of  Evolution  has  been  most  indus- 
triously urged  and  elaborated  by  skeptical  philoso- 
phers in  modern  times,  and  the  facts  of  natural  science 
have  been  arranged  and  classified  in  its  support,  so  as 
to  weaken  or  invalidate  the  idea  of  a  special  creation. 
Self-evolution,  or  the  evolving  or  unfolding  of  the 
phenomena  of  the  universe  without  extraneous  power, 
is  essentially  a  denial  of  the  existence  of  God.  It  is 
only  another  phase  of  Pantheism.  Many  distinguished 
naturalists,  however,  contend  that  there  is  no  antag- 


*  Good's  Book  of  Nature. 
11* 


1 26  Theory  of  Evohition. 

onisro  between  the  ideas  of  creation  and  evolution, 
claiming  that  creative  power  was  exerted  only  at  the 
beginning,  and  all  subsequent  changes  resulted  from 
natural  laws  acting  without  intelligent  design.  We 
have  already  shown,  page  25,  that  according  to  this 
view  the  liberty  of  the  Divine  Mind  has  been  alienated 
or  enchained  by  the  act  of  creation,  and  a  new  law, 
or  order  of  things,  introduced,  which  is  logically  fatal 
to  this  hypothesis.  Others,  who  admit  the  general 
phenomena  of  evolution,  maintain  the  immanence  of 
Divine  Power  throughout  nature,  as  seen  in  forms 
and  processes  specially  exhibiting  design.  To  this 
class  of  naturalists,  teleology,  or  the  study  of  those 
facts  which  display  adaptation  and  design,  affords  a 
large  field  of  investigation,  which  notwithstanding 
the  studied  efforts  of  the  other  classes  of  evolutionists 
to  ignore  or  repudiate,  is  as  clearly  manifest  as  any 
other  class  of  facts  or  principles. 

Mr.  Darwin  is  popularly  considered  to  be  the 
originator  of  the  theory  of  evolution,  or  development 
by  law,  which  is  often  referred  to  as  "  Darwinism," 
but  it  is  not  strictly  correct.  The  ancient  myth  of 
Egypt  and  India  of  the  chaotic  or  mundane  ^^^  from 
which  all  things  successively  emerged,  and  the  pan- 
theistic theories  referred  to  on  page  34,  show  the 
prevalence  of  such  a  theory  in  early  times.  Theistic 
evolutionists  see  a  reference  to  creative  development 
in  Ps.  cxxxix. :  "  My  substance  was  not  hid  from  thee 
when  I  was  made  in  secret,  and  curiously  wrought  in 
the  lowest  parts  of  the  earth.  Thine  eyes  did  see  my 
substance,  yet  being  unperfect,  and  in  thy  book  all 


Hypotheses  of  various  Evolutionists.  127 

my  members  were  written,  which  in  continuance 
were  fashioned,  when  as  yet  there  was  none  of  them." 
In  modern  times,  Leibnitz,  Kant,  and  Laplace 
enunciated  the  principles  of  the  nebular  hypothesis, 
or  the  evolution  of  the  world  from  a  gas'eous  or  fluid 
condition,  and  Buffon,  Wolff,  Goethe,  and  Von  Baer 
taught  the  transmutation  of  structure  and  form  in 
plants  and  animals  from  almost  structureless  embryos. 
Lord  Monboddo  and  Lamarck  both  suggested  the 
possible  origin  of  man  from  the  ape.  The  doctrines 
of  the  correlation  of  forces  in  nature  and  of  the  con- 
servation or  persistence  of  force,  which  have  been  so 
fully  illustrated  in  the  physical  sciences  by  Rumford, 
Grove,  Mayer,  and  Joule,  have  been  applied  to  vital 
phenomena  by  Carpenter  and  others,  and  even  to 
mind-force  by  Maudsley,  Biichner,  and  most  of 
modern  materialists.  (See  page  175.)  Prof  Harts- 
horne  (Art.  Evolution,  "  Johnson's  Cyclopaedia ") 
shows  that  evolutionists  have  adopted  the  following 
hypotheses  to  account  for  the  origin  of  diverse  spe- 
cies:  I.  Self-elevation  by  "appetency,"  or  use  and 
effort:  Monboddo,  Lamarck,  and  Cope.  2.  Modifica- 
tion by  the  surrounding  conditions  of  the  "medium:" 
St.  Hilaire,  Quatrefages,  Draper,  and  Spencer.  3. 
Natural  selection  under  the  struggle  for  existence, 
with  spontaneous  variability,  causing  the  "  survival 
of  the  fittest :"  Darwin,  Wallace,  and  Hackel.  4. 
Derivation  by  preordained  succession  of  organic 
forms  under  an  "innate  tendency"  or  "internal 
force:'  Owen  and  Mivart.  5.  Evolution  by  "un- 
conscious  intelligence:"    Morel,   Laycock,   Murphy. 


128  Insufficiency  of  Proofs  of  Design. 

6.  Less  definite,  but  clearly  implied  in  the  writings 
of  Prof.  A,  Gray,  Dr.  McCosh,  Baden  Powell,  the 
duke  of  Argyll,  and  others,  is  the  view  of  orderly 
creation  "by  law  "  through  the  immanent  action  and 
direction  of  Divine  Power,  or,  in  other  words,  creative 
evolution.  We  abridge  the  following  reasons  given 
by  Prof  Hartshorne  for  uniting  with  Carpenter, 
Dana,  Agassiz,  Henry,  Sir  J.  Herschel,  Sir  W. 
Thomson,  Asa  Gray,  and  other  distinguished  scien- 
tists, in  denying  absolutely  the  insufficiency  of  the 
proofs  of  design  m  nature,  and  also  in  refusing  to 
admit  the  elimination  of  special  creative  action  or 
direct  modification  of  nature  from  all  periods  since 
the  first  origination  of  the  universe. 

I.  The  "nebular  hypothesis"  is  null  without  a 
creative  act  to  produce  the  required  "inequality  of 
distribution "  of  cosmic  matter  in  space.  Hackel 
admits  that  it  is  weak  on  two  points,  the  heat  of  the 
nebular  mass  and  its  rotary  motion.  Herbert  Spencer 
has  also  committed  himself  to  a  self-destructive  pro- 
cess of  reasoning  in  his  "  First  Principles,"  as  shown 
by  a  review  in  the  "New  Englander."  The  "insta- 
bility of  the  homogeneous,"  on  which  Spencer  builds 
large  consequences,  might  account  for  chaos,  but 
never  for  the  universe.  Carried  forward  without  de- 
signing will-force  to  modify  them,  natural  cosmic  forces 
tend  always  to  equilibration,  and  consequent  dissolu- 
tion. The  universe  must  thus  become  its  own  ceme- 
tery. Mivart's  special  hypothesis  of  an  "  internal  force  " 
determinative  of  evolutionary  changes  in  organisms 
is  vague  and  unsatisfactory  while  detached  from  the 
"  will-force"  (Wallace)  of  an  immanent  creative  power. 


Variation.  129 

2.  Variation  is  necessary  to  the  Darwinian  or  any- 
other  "non-teleolo<^ical "  theory,  and  no  such  theory 
accounts  for  variation.  Darwin  requires  also  almost 
infinite  variability  of  plants  and  animals;  but,  so  far 
from  infinite,  observation  shows  it  to  be  confined 
within  very  narrow,  limits.  The  non-fertility  of  hy- 
brids of  two  nearly-allied  species  is  a  very  important 
indication  of  the  present  fixedness  of  those  limita- 
tions. Also,  species  do  not  pass  in  any  case  into 
each  other.  Palaeontology  and  recent  zoology  and 
botany  are  declared  by  Agassiz,  Barrande,  Dawson, 
Gould,  Balfour,  and  Thomson  to  establish  this. 

3.  Were  variation  possible  without  the  regulation  of 
selective  or  directive  design,  a  simple  calculation  of 
probabilities  (see  *'N.  Brit.  Rev.,"  June,  1867)  shows 
that  a  merely  chaotic  complication  of  forms  must  re- 
sult, the  "  struggle  for  existence  "  notwithstanding. 

4.  Infinite  time  has  been  proposed  as  affording  a  so- 
lution of  the  difficulties  of  natural  selection.  But  infin- 
ite time  would  not  alter  the  nature  of  the  necessary  re- 
sult of  infinitevariations,norwould  it  regulate  finite  ones. 

5.  Without  design  (as  Mivart  has  shown)  incipient 
structures,  which  become  useful  only  when  com- 
pletely developed,  have  no  explanation  at  all.  Further 
items  of  fact  unexplained,  apart  from  teleology,  are, 
the  opposition  of  the  sexes  in  plants  and  animals;  the 
metamorphoses  of  insects ;  the  cessation  of  the  in- 
dividual life;  and  the  renewal  of  life-progress  by 
parental  reproduction.  "Accepting,  then,  with  Her- 
bert Spencer,  the  evidence  found  everywhere  of  the' 
unity  of  the   'inscrutable  Universal  power'   which  is 


130  Pantheism  repudiated  by  Reason. 

the  cause  of  nature,  there  is  proof  also,  in  the  mul- 
tipHcity  and  adjustment  of  the  manifestations  of  that 
power,  that  it  has  the  attributes  of  intelhgence  and 
will.  Every  specialization,  each  true  elevation  of 
type  (which  is  a  different  thing  from  modification  on 
the  same  plane  of  being),  involves  new  force-expendi- 
ture. Certain  factors  have  been  added  in  the  evolu- 
tion of  nature  whose  origin  is  a  ** mystery"  as  yet 
quite  unsolved  by  science.  It  is  rational  and  philo- 
sophical, therefore,  in  the  absence  of  any  solution  by 
secondary  causation,  to  refer  them,  provisionally  at 
least,  to  the  direct  creative  action  (whether  sudden  or 
gradual  we  cannot  know)  of  the  first  cause.  Such 
"  factors,"  superadded  from  time  to  time  in  the  past 
history  of  our  globe,  have  been — i,  life;  2.animality, 
as  distinct  from  vegetable  life;  3,  mind-force,  instinct, 
intelligence,  Y'^/'? ;  4»  Tcvzujia  or  spirit  (see  I  Cor. 
15  :  46),  possessed  by  man  alone  of  all  creatures  on 
the  earth.  While  Theism  must  rest  essentially  upon 
evidence  other  and  higher  than  that  of  physical  sci- 
ence, it  would  appear  that  the  facts  of  evolution  tend 
to  confirm  and  strengthen  that  evidence." 

We  thus  see  that  notwithstanding  the  evident 
tendency  of  philosophic  speculation  towards  pan- 
theism, reason  repudiates  it,  and  acknowledges  the 
necessity  of  an  eternal  intelligent  personal  Creator. 
If  the  Bible  had  not  rev^ealed  such  a  Being  to  us,  the 
idea  would  have  been  a  necessity  of  rational  thought, 
without  which  the  universe  of  matter  and  mind 
would  have  been  an  unsolved  enigma. 

The  Scriptures  represent  the  Deity  to  us  as  a  per- 


The  Bible  Representation  of  God.  131 

sonal  Being,  of  infinite  perfection  and  intelligence, 
supremely  great,  and  wonderful  in  condescension. 
Their  representations  of  his  moral  government  are 
perfectly  consistent  with  what  we  know  of  the  econ- 
omy of  nature,  as  clearly  shown  by  Bishop  Butler  in 
his  "Analogy;"  and  the  ideas  connected  with  the 
names  or  terms  by  which  He  is  designated  are  the 
sublimest  conceptions  of  the  human  mind. 

The  first  word  used  by  the  sacred  writings  to 
represent  the  Creator*  is  in  the  Hebrew  Elohim, — 
the  plural  form  of  a  word  signifying  the  Almighty. 
It  was  natural  that  the  idea  of  force  or  power  should 
be  associated  with  the  act  of  creation;  but  the  plural 
form  suggests  something  different  from  a  Brahminical 
or  pantheistic  monad  developing  the  creation  from 
itself  after  ages  of  inactivity  or  torpor.  We  catch  a 
glimpse  of  essential  plurality  in  the  Divine  nature, 
the  eternal  object  as  well  as  subject  of  Divine  thought 
and  affection  and  activity. 

This  essential  plurality  in  the  mode  of  God's 
existence  is  more  fully  explained  in  other  parts  of  the 
Scriptures  as  a  Trinity  in  Unity, — Father,  Son,  and 
Holy  Ghost,  mutually  inexisting,  yet  holding  personal 
relations  with  each  other  in  a  way  surpassing  human 
conception.  The  mystery  of  the  Trinity,  however, 
is  not  greater  than  that  of  the  Divine  essence,  which 
is  all  in  all,  and  all  in  every  place, — embracing  and 
filling  all  things  without  being  identified  with  them; 
nor  is  it  greater  than  any  other  truth  which  is  too 
sublime  for  our  limited  faculties. 

*  Gen.  i.  i. 


132         Traces  of  the  Trinity  in  Heathenism. 

The  doctrine  of  a  Trinity  was  known  in  the  earliest 
ages.  Moses  represents  the  Holy  Spirit  as  brooding 
over  the  waters  of  chaos  (Gen.  i.  2),  and  nearly  all 
commentators  agree  that  the  visible  appearances  of 
God,  recorded  in  the  Old  Testament,  were  manifesta- 
tions of  the  second  person  of  the  Trinity.  In  one 
remarkable  passage  of  Genesis,  the  Father  and  the 
Son  are  both  referred  to  by  the  name  Jehovah :  "  The 
Lord  [Jehovah]  rained  upon  Sodom  and  upon  Go- 
morrah brimstone  and  fire  from  the  Lord  [Jehovah] 
out  of  heaven."  Here  a  visible  and  an  invisible 
Jehovah  are  mentioned  in  the  same  passage. 

The  scriptural  proofs  of  a  Trinity  in  the  Divine 
nature  are  very  numerous,  but  it  serves  our  present 
purpose  simply  to  allude  to  this  doctrine  as  forming 
part  of  the  patriarchal  faith  of  mankind.  Whether 
polytheism  resulted  from  a  corruption  of  this  idea  of 
God,  or  otherwise,  the  notion  of  a  Trinity  of  some 
kind  is  found  in  many  systems  of  mythology.  The 
philosophy  of  Plato  among  the  Greeks,  and  the 
worship  of  the  Hindoos,  Chinese,  and  Persians,  con- 
tain plain  allusions  to  it.  The  heathen  triads,  how- 
ever, are  different  from  the  Christian  doctrine  of  the 
Trinity,  since  they  only  denote-  elements  (or  phases) 
of  a  developing  process;  while  the  biblical  view  is 
that  of  a  necessary  and  eternal  relation  in  the  mode 
of  the  Divine  existence,  best  expressed  by  the  term 
Person,*  although  that  term  must  not  be  understood 

^  The  term  "  person"  is  used  in  mental  science,  strictly,  to  denote 
a  spiritual  being, — one  having  affections  and  will, — in  contradistinc- 
tion to  a  thinjT  or  a  brute. 


A  Triunity  reasonable.  133 

in  the  sense  of  separation,  as  in  polytheism.  The 
word  Triunity  would  perhaps  better  describe  or 
characterize  the  true  doctrine  than  the  term  Trinity. 

If  God  is  eternal,  He  is  also  eternally  active ;  and 
all  action  requires  an  object  adapted  to  the  active 
power  which  is  present;  hence  the  infinite  power  of 
God  requires  an  infinite  object.  Such  an  object  must 
exist  in  Him,  for  if  it  were  the  world  it  would  be 
necessarily  eternal,  and  the  existence  of  God  would 
depend  on  the  existence  of  the  world,  and  a  finite 
world  is  an  unworthy  object  and  could  not  absorb 
the  infinite  power  of  the  Divine  life.  Hence  God's 
life  and  action — that  is,  his  thoughts,  will,  love,  and 
desires — require  both  a  subject  and  an  object, — 
Father  and  Son.  But  a  duality  is  merely  a  distinc- 
tion without  unity,  an  antithesis  without  intermediate 
link;  after  a  trinity  appears,  the  antithesis  ceases,  and 
the  difference  established  by  a  duality  is  brought 
back  to  a  unity  (as  illustrated  by  the  triangle  and  the 
cube).  This  necessary  TJiird  (person)  in  God  is  the 
Holy  Ghost,  proceeding  from  the  Father  and  the 
Son,  and  of  the  same  essence  with  both.* 

No  illustration  can  give  a  full  apprehension  of  the 
real  manner  of  the  Divine  existence,  which  must 
needs  surpass  all  finite  things  and  finite  conceptions; 
yet,  for  the  sake  of  those  who  imagine  that  distinction 
always  implies  separation,  and  that  therefore  a  Trinity 
in  Unity  is  a  self-contradiction,  we  may  show  that 
science  is  not  without  analogies  of  this  truth.  It  is 
well  known  to  science  that  a  beam  or  ray  of  ordinary 

*  Kurtz's  Sacred  History. 
12 


134  yehovah. 

light  is  composed  not  only  of  the  seven  prismatic 
colors,  but  also  of  two  rays  or  beams  intimately 
united,  and  nowise  differing  from  each  other  save  in 
the  relation  of  their  axes, — the  axis  of  one  ray  being 
at  right  angles  to  that  of  the  other.  If  a  ray  of  light 
falls  upon  a  doubly-refracting  crystal,  its  components 
are  separated  from  each  other,  so  that  they  may  be 
analyzed.  The  distinction  between  them  is  thus  seen 
to  be  one  not  of  quality  but  of  relationship.  When 
the  axes  coincide,  or  lie  in  the  same  direction,  total 
darkness  is  produced, —  the  peculiar  relation  of  the 
component  rays  seeming  to  be  essential  to  the  sense 
of  ordinary  vision.  Hence  a  scientific  mind  always 
contemplates  ordinary  light  as  compounded  of  really 
distinct  rays  (or  vibrations),  without  separation,  just  as 
a  Christian  contemplates  either  of  the  Divine  persons 
as  comprehending  the  others,  without  separation,  and 
yet  without  confounding  them.  The  relation  of  the 
Son,  as  the  revealer  of  essential  Godhead,  is  also 
illustrated  by  the  peculiarity  of  polarized  light,  just 
referred  to. 

The  second  word  used  in  the  Hebrew  Scriptures 
as  the  name  of  the  Deity  is  Jehovah,*  generally 
translated  Lord  in  our  English  Bibles.  This  word 
has  been  said  by  eminent  scholars  to  be  made  up  of 
the  past,  present,  and  future  of  the  verb  to  be,  and 
seems  to  signify  He  who  was,  and  is,  and  is  to  come. 
Others,  however,  consider  it  to  be  the  future  form, — 
Yahveh,  He  who  will  be.    In  Exodus,  xxxiv.  we  have 

*  Gen.  ii.  4. 


yehovah.  135 

an  extended  explanation  of  the  name  Jehovah: 
"And  the  Lord  passed  by  before  him,  and  proclaimed, 
The  Lord  [Jehovah],  The  Lord  God,  merciful  and 
gracious,  long-suffering,  and  abundant  in  goodness 
and  truth,  keeping  mercy  for  thousands,  forgiving 
iniquity  and  transgression  and  sin,  and  that  will  by 
no  means  clear  the  guilty." 

These  words  are  the  revealed  interpretation  of 
the  term  Jehovah.  They  "have  been  considered  as 
so  many  attributes  of  the  Divine  nature.  Commen- 
tators divide  them  into  eleven,  thus :  i .  Jehovah,  rwxv ; 
2.  SkX,  El,  the  strong  or  mighty  God;  3.  Dim,  Rachum, 
the  merciful  Being,  who  is  full  of  tenderness  and 
compassion ;  4.  |un,  Chanun,  the  gracious  One, — He 
whose  nature  is  goodness  itself, — the  loving  God; 
5.  D'£ix  -jnx,  Erec  Apayim,  long-siiffenng,  the  Being 
who,  because  of  his  goodness  and  tenderness,  is  not 
easily  irritated,  but  suffers  long  and  is  kind ;  6.  3-1,  Rab, 
the  great  or  migJity  One ;  7.  riDK,  Emeth,  the  Truth,  or 
true  One, — He  alone  who  can  neither  deceive  nor  be 
deceived, — who  is  the  Foimtain  of  truth,  and  from 
whom  all  wisdom  and  knowledge  must  be  derived; 
8.  non  n];j,  Notser  Chesed,  the  Preserver  of  bountiful- 
ness,  —  He  whose  beneficence  never  ends,  keeping 
mercy  for  thousands  of  generations, — showing  com- 
passion and  mercy  while  the  world  endures ;  9. 
nxDm  ;;iy3i  p>'  J^t^J,  Nose  avon  vapesha  vechataah, 
He  who  bears  away  iniqidty  and  transgression  and  sin, 
—  properly,  the  Redeemer,  the  Pardoner,  the  For- 
giver, — the  Being  whose  prerogative  alone  it  is  to 
forgive  sin  and  save  the  soul;   10.  npj'  iS  npJ,  Nakek 


136  God  revealed  to  Moses. 

LO  YiNNAKEH,  tJie  rigkteoiis  jfiidge,  who  distributes 
justice  with  an  impartial  hand, — with  whom  no  imio- 
cent  person  can  ever  be  condemned;  and  11.  p;;  npa, 
Paked  AVON,  etc.,  He  who  visits  iniquity.  He  who 
punishes  transgressors,  and  from  whose  justice  no 
sinner  can  escape, — the  God  of  retributive  and  vindic- 
tive justice!'"^ 

In  the  wilderness  of  Sinai,  surrounded  by  naked 
hills,  the  types  of  unchanging  nature  and  strength, 
Moses  saw  the  vision  of  the  burning  bush,  and  to  his 
mind  was  then  communicated  the  knowledge  of  the 
eternal  and  infinite  presence  of  God.  The  patriarch 
Jacob  had  appreciated  the  same  truth  at  Bethel,  and 
doubtless  others  were  similarly  impressed.  The  book 
of  Job  contains  frequent  allusions  to  the  same  thought. 
But  to  Moses  the  renewal  of  this  revelation  was  very 
emphatic,  "  I  am  that  I  am"  were  the  words  which 
fell  upon  his  ear,  and  caused  him  to  feel  that  God  was 
personally  present,  that  there  was  no  such  thing  as 
solitude,  and  that  every  spot  through  the  expanse  of 
space  was  inhabited  by  the  Almighty.  The  words 
he  then  heard  are  characteristic  of  a  divinely  inde- 
pendent and  eternal  Being,  self-existent,  and  far  re- 
moved above  all  creatures  whatever. 

As  an  example  of  the  manner  in  which  the  ancients 
were  indebted  to  the  Scriptures,  Dr.  A.  Clarke,  in  his 
comment  on  Ex.  iii.,  declares  that  to  this  passage 
the  Greeks  owed  the  celebrated  inscription  over  the 
door  of  the  temple  of  Apollo  at  Delphi.    The  inscrip- 

■^  Dr.  A.  Clarke's  Com.  on  Ex.  xxxiv.  6, 


Revelation  of  God  to  Moses.  137 

tion  consisted  simply  of  the  monosyllable  ^/,  Thou  art, 
the  second  person  of  the  substantive  verb  ^huj  am.  He 
quotes  Plutarch,  who  wrote  a  treatise  upon  the  sub- 
jec'rofthis  inscription,  having  received  the  true  mean- 
ing in  Egypt,  doubtless  from  the  Septuagint  version 
of  the  Bible.  This  philosopher  observes  that  "  this 
title  is  not  only  proper,  but  peculiar  to  God,  because 
He  alone  is  being ;  for  mortals  have  no  participation 
of  true  being,  because  that  which  begins  and  ends, 
and  is  continually  changing,  is  never  one  nor  the 
same,  nor  in  the  same  state.  The  deity  on  whose 
temple  this  word  was  inscribed  was  called  Apollo, 
A-6lXu)v,  from  «,  negative,  and  r^uloz,  many,  because 
God  is  one,  his  nature  simple,  his  essence  uncom- 
pounded."  Hence,  he  informs  us,  the  ancient  mode 
of  addressing  God  was  "^V,  'EN,  etc.,  Thou  art  one, 
for  many  cannot  be  attributed  to  the  Divine  nature, 
in  which  there  is  neither  first  nor  last,  past  nor  future, 
old  nor  young;  but  as  being  one,  fills  up  in  one  now 
an  eternal  duration."  And  he  concludes  with  ob- 
serving that  "  this  word  corresponds  to  certain  others 
on  the  same  temple,  viz.,  VN9.QI  lEAYTON,  Knozv  thy- 
self; as  if,  under  the  name  E[,  Thou  art,  the  Deity  de- 
signed to  excite  men  to  venerate  Him  as  eternally 
existing,  and  to  put  them  in  mind  of  the  frailty  and 
mortality  of  their  own  nature." 

In  the  opening  verses  of  Genesis,  Moses  "  makes 
us  spectators  of  the  birth  of  created  nature.  He  calls 
up  to  our  imaginations  a  season  in  the  distant  depths 
of  a  past  eternity,  when  the  assemblage  of  stars  and 
of  systems  which  strew  the  fields  of  space  did  not 
i2-« 


138  The  Pe7itateiich. 

exist ;  when  no  glorious  or  undying  spirit,  angelic  of 
human,  lived  to  comprehend  the  God  that  had  given 
them  being.  Nothing  ever  broke  that  wondrous 
silence,  save  the  voice  of  the  Eternal  One,  who  ex- 
isted from  the  unfathomable  depths  of  eternity.  God 
was  there  then,  as  now,  in  three  Persons, — the  ever- 
blessed  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost.  But  the  uni- 
verse held  only  God,  and  in  that  Divine  Being  was 
the  attribute  of  benevolence,  and  that  benevolence 
craved  the  being  girt  round  by  dependent  creatures. 
It  seemed  not  good  to  God  to  continue  alone  ;  the 
sublime  loneliness  was  infringed ;  the  word  was 
spoken,  and  the  depths  of  space  became  strewed 
with  worlds ;  and  immortal  spirits,  sparklings  of  his 
infinity,  thronged  his  presence.  *The  morning  stars 
sang  together,  and  all  the  sons  of  God  shouted  for 
joy.'  Such  is  the  conception  of  the  Divine  Being 
which  Moses  has  presented  to  us."* 

The  Pentateuch  also  exhibits  to  us  the  personal 
agency  of  God  in  the  natural  and  moral  government 
of  the  world ;  the  care  of  the  Creator  for  the  work 
of  his  hands  ;  the  constant  supervision  of  his  provi- 
dence, not  only  in  conserving  the  general  order  of  the 
universe,  but  also  in  the  ordinary  and  daily  affairs  of 
life ;  his  intervention  for  the  overthrow  of  wickedness, 
and  the  preservation  of  his  people. 

The  books  of  Job  and  Genesis  show  that  such  ideas 
prevailed  during  the  patriarchal  age.  Such  views  of 
God  and  his  government  were  a  rich  heritage  forpri- 

*  Farrar's  Science  in  Theology. 


God  as  revealed  in  the  Psalms. 


139 


meval  man.  It  is  a  sad  commentary  on  human  de- 
pravity that  so  many  nations  did  not  like  to  retain 
God  in  their  knowledge,  "  neither  were  thankful ;  but 
became  vain  in  their  imaginations,  and  their  foolish 
heart  was  darkened.  Professing  themselves  to  be 
wise,  they  became  fools,  and  changed  the  glory  of  the 
uncorruptible  God  into  an  image  made  like  to  corrup- 
tible man,  and  to  birds,  and  four-footed  beasts,  and 
creeping  things."  This  was  the  natural  consequence 
of  that  infidelity  which  ignores  the  supernatural. 

The  subsequent  revelations  of  God  in  the  Old  Tes- 
tament were  of  similar  character  to  those  made  to 
the  patriarchs  and  to  Moses.  The  Psalmist  speaks 
of  his  immeasurable  greatness  and  of  his  real  pres- 
ence to  the  heart  of  the  praying  worshiper:  "When 
I  consider  thy  heavens,  the  work  of  thy  fingers,  the 
moon  and  the  stars,  which  thou  hast  ordained  ;  what 
is  man,  that  thou  art  mindful  of  him?  and  the  son  of 
man,  that  thou  visitest  him  ?"  Again,  "Whither  shall 
I  go  from  thy  spirit?  or  whither  shall  I  flee  from  thy 
presence?  If  I  ascend  up  into  heaven,  thou  art  there ; 
if  I  make  my  bed  in  hell,  behold,  thou  art  there.  If 
I  take  the  wings  of  the  morning,  and  dwell  in  the 
uttermost  parts  of  the  sea;  even  there  shall  thy  hand 
lead  me,  and  thy  right  hand  shall  hold  me.  If  I  say, 
Surely  the  darkness  shall  cover  me;  even  the  night 
shall  be  light  about  me.  Yea,  the  darkness  hideth  not 
from  thee;  but  the  night  shineth  as  the  day:  the  dark- 
ness and  the  light  are  both  alike  to  thee."  St.  Au- 
gustine's description  of  God's  omnipresence,  although 
very  forcible,  adds  nothing  to  the  teaching  of  this 


140  A^<?ze^  Testament  Revelation  of  God. 

passage :  "  Yet  mean  I  not  by  thy  filling  of  all  things, 
that  they  contain  thee,  but  rather  that  thou  containest 
them.  Neither  fillest  thou  all  things  by  parcels, 
neither  is  it  in  any  wise  to  be  thought  that  each  thing 
receiveth  thee  according  to  the  proportion  of  its  own 
size;  that  is  to  say,  the  greatest  things  more,  and  the 
smallest  things  less :  but  rather  that  thou  thyself  art 
whole  in  all  things,  and  all  things  in  thee ;  whose  al- 
mightiness  incloseth  all  things,  and  no  man  can  find 
any  escape  from  thy  power,  for  he  that  hath  not  thy 
favor  shall  never  escape  thy  displeasure." 

In  the  prophetical  books  we  have  the  same  repre- 
sentations of  the  Divine  greatness  and  of  the  Divine 
condescension.  As  the  fullness  of  time  comes  on, 
the  promises  of  Divine  mercy  become  clearer,  so  that 
we  meet  with  such  passages  as  "Thus  saith  the  high 
and  lofty  One  that  inhabiteth  eternity,  whose  name  is 
Holy;  I  dwell  in  the  high  and  holy  place,  with  him 
also  that  is  of  a  contrite  and  humble  spirit,  to  revive 
the  spirit  of  the  humble,  and  to  revive  the  heart  of 
the  contrite  ones." 

It  is  in  the  New  Testament,  however,  that  we  have 
the  fullest  revelation  of  the  mercy  and  condescen- 
sion of  God.  The  incarnation  of  God  the  Son  is  the 
crowning  proof  of  his  regard  for  us.  The  infinite 
greatness  and  amazing  power  of  God  might  deter  us 
from  approaching  Him,  might  produce  misgiving 
whether  He  would  deign  to  .notice  such  unworthy 
beings  as  we  are.  But  the  Word  made  flesh  is  a 
pledge  that  our  human  nature  is  not  beneath  his 
notice  and  his  love. 


Summary  of  the  Divine  Character.  141 

The  incarnation  has  been  the  hope  of  the  world 
from  the  earliest  ages,  and  the  memory  of  that  hope 
has  been  kept  alive  by  many  a  legend  and  mytho- 
logical fable  in  the  various  idolatries  of  the  world; 
and  it  is  certainly  no  more  unsuitable,  derogatory,  or 
dishonorable  for  the  Divine  nature  to  unite  itself  with 
our  humanity,  than  for  God  to  give  proofs  of  his  own 
glorious  attributes  in  the  meanest  of  his  works,  to 
connect  himself  with  them,  and  in  and  through  them 
to  exert  his  power  and  agency;  nor  is  the  one  kind 
of  manifestation  really  more  mysterious  than  the 
other. 

In  the  New  Testament  we  are  plainly  taught  that 
this  world  is  not  a  God-forsaken  world.  God  has 
loved  us  even  when  we  were  dead  in  sins.  Herein  is 
love,  that  God  hath  sent  his  Son  to  be  the  propitiation 
for  our  sins.  "  The  deep  necessity  of  humanity  for 
an  inner  and  personal  union  and  mediation  with  the 
eternal  Godhead,  which  pervades  all  heathenism,  and 
seeks  to  satisfy  itself  without  the  clear  light  of  reve- 
lation, in  dark  dreams  and  insane  invisible  fancies,  is 
satisfied  only  in  a  pure  Christianity,  genuine  and 
worthy  of  God."* 

In  the  moral  excellence  of  Christ's  character,  as 
well  as  in  the  nature  of  his  person  and  the  signifi- 
cance of  his  work,  we  are  taught  what  God  is.  Christ 
was  "  the  brightness  of  his  Father's  glory,  and  the 
express  image  of  his  person."  Christianity  shows  that 
the   highest  glory  of  God   is   not  his  majesty  and 

*  Sartorius. 


142      Consistency  of  these   Viezvs  with  Science. 

power,  nor  his  mysterious  infinitude,  but  his  wondrous 
love,  which  brings  "  peace  on  earth  and  good  will  to 
men."  For  this  was  Christ  manifested  on  earth;  and, 
although  ascended  to  heaven,  our  mediator  is  Jesus 
still, — our  elder  brother, — and  sends  his  Spirit,  as 
"  another  Comforter,"  to  dwell  in  the  hearts  of  the 
penitent  and  faithful,  to  direct  and  sanctify  and  save 
them. 

These  scriptural  views  of  the  Divine  Being  teach 
that  God  is  a  personal  Being,  of  infinite  greatness, 
and  of  infinite  condescension  also;  that  He  is  of  un- 
limited intelligence  and  power,  and  of  wondrous  love 
also ;  that  He  is  not  only  all  in  all,  but  all  in  every 
place, — as  perfect  in  an  atom  as  in  a  universe,  and  no 
more  bounded  by  a  universe  than  by  an  atom ;  that 
while  He  fills  immensity,  He  has  a  personal  care 
over  the  minutest  and  meanest  of  his  works ;  that  all 
the  beings  and  forces  in  the  universe  are  subject  to 
his  will,  while  He  is  subject  only  to  the  essential 
Holiness  and  Wisdom  of  his  own  nature. 

Are  these  views  consistent  with  the  discoveries 
of  modern  science  ?  Can  we  find  evidences  of  vast 
power  and  majesty  combined  with  intelligent  de- 
sign, in  the  universe  around  us?  And  have  we 
equal  evidence  of  condescension  in  the  works  of 
creation?  If  this  be  so,  the  Bible  teaches  the  truth 
relating  to  God;  but  if  it  be  otherwise, — if  there  be 
evidence  of  irregularity  and  weakness,  or  a  want  of 
care  for  minutiae, — then  the  Bible  is  inconsistent  with 
the  book  of  Nature. 

The  evidences  of  intelligent  skill  combined  with 


Spictrum  Analysis,  \a^ 

majesty  and  power  multiply  with  every  effort  of  the 
human  mind  to  penetrate  and  comprehend  the  uni- 
verse. The  discoveries  of  Sir  W.  Herschel  and  others 
have  shown  that  the  fixed  stars  visible  to  the  eye 
or  telescope  are  suns  similar  to  our  own,  having  in 
all  probability  planets  revolving  around  them,  as  in 
our  own  solar  system.  These  suns,  in  such  vast 
multitudes  as  to  be  literally  innumerable,  and  at  such 
enormous  distances  that  the  light  of  many  of  them 
takes  centuries  to  reach  the  earth,  are  but  parts  of 
a  single  cluster,  or  system,  bound  by  the  same  tie 
of  gravity  and  illustrating  the  same  harmony  and 
design  which  we  witness  in  those  parts  of  the  uni- 
verse which  are  near  us.  But  far  beyond  this  system 
of  the  fixed  stars,  divided  from  our  firmament  and 
each  other  by  measureless  intervals,  numerous  firma- 
ments, glorious  as  ours,  float  through  immensity; 
doubtless  forming  one  stupendous  system,  bound 
together  by  fine  relationships.  Recently  science  has 
interrogated  the  light  from  these  distant  suns, — the 
spectrum  analysis  has  interpreted  its  strange  hiero- 
glyphics,— and  the  message  it  has  borne  to  our 
minds  is  that  these  distant  spheres  are  formed  of 
the  same  materials  and  combined  by  the  same  laws 
as  our  own  world,  although  exhibiting  that  same 
variety  which  everywhere  characterizes  the  w^ork  of 
the  Supreme  Intelligence.  Yet  these  countless  suns 
which  blaze  around  us,  **  leading  forth  their  countless 
worlds,"  are  not  the  universe.  Every  increase  in  the 
space-penetrating  power  of  our  telescopes  brings  to 
view  other  and  more  distant  stars  and  nebulae,  show 


1^4  Microscopic   View. 

ing  us  that  far  beyond  the  sphere  of  our  vision  or 
the  reach  of  our  instruments,  Infinity,  boundless 
Infinity,  stretches  unfathomed  as  ever.  Surely  in 
view  of  such  disclosures  the  revelation  of  the  Bible 
receives  additional  emphasis :  '*  Who  is  like  unto  the 
Lord  our  God,  who  dwelleth  on  high,  who  hurn- 
bleth  himself  to  behold  the  things  that  are  in  heaven, 
and  in  the  earth!"  Thus,  as  Sartorius  well  says, 
"  the  splendid  exposition  of  the  stars  teaches  us  to 
recognize  from  the  whole  book  of  Nature  the  same 
God  of  power  and  majesty  which  the  Bible  reveals." 

But  does  the  Creator  care  for  the  things  "  in  the 
earth"?  What  does  science  teach  us  of  the  minutiae 
of  creation  ?  Simply  this,  that  the  perfection  of  the 
Great  First  Cause  is  seen  equally  in  an  atom  as  in  the 
universe.  If  the  telescope  has  revealed  an  infinitude 
above  us,  the  microscope  has  revealed  an  infinitude 
below  us.  In  the  language  of  Lavater,  "  Every  grain 
of  sand  is  an  immensity,  every  leaf  a  world." 

When  we  consider  the  myriads  of  living  beings 
exhibited  to  the  scientific  eye,  so  small  that  thousands 
of  them  can  swim  in  a  single  drop  of  water,  each  of 
them  having  organs  well  adapted  to  its  various  ne- 
cessities, how  can  we  help  exclaiming,  "  Great  and 
marvelous  are  thy  works,  Lord  God  Almighty;  in 
wisdom  hast  thou  made  them  all"?  and  how  can  we 
help  realizing  that  the  scriptural  declarations  respect- 
ing the  condescension  of  God  are  in  strict  accordance 
with  scientific  truth  ?  We  inquire  of  the  telescope 
and  the  spectrum  analysis,  and  they  testify  to  unity 
of  design  in  the  midst  of  most  amazing  manifestations' 


Practical  Effect  of  such   Views.  145 

of  power  and  majesty  and  wisdom,  thereby  proving 
the  entire  visible  universe  to  be  under  the  control  and 
dominion  of  the  same  Intelligence,  and  confirming 
those  representations  of  Scripture  which  assure  us 
that  God  is  great  and  immeasurable,  who  measures 
the  heavens  with  a  span,  and  before  whom  the  nations 
of  the  earth  are  as  nothing,  and  all  the  people  as  the 
drop  of  a  bucket,  and  as  the  dust  which  lies  in  the 
balance. 

We  ask  the  microscope,  and  it  reveals  a  thousand 
contrivances  of  infinite  skill  in  mechanism,  so  small 
as  to  be  invisible  to  the  unaided  vision.  It  shows  us 
the  first  beginnings  of  organic  life,  and  the  marvelous 
provision  made  for  the  performance  of  all  the  func- 
tions of  living  beings,  however  minute.  As  every 
addition  to  the  perfection  of  the  telescope  enlarges 
our  ideas  of  the  Divine  majesty  and  of  infinite  power, 
so  every  increase  of  optical  skill  applied  to  the  mi- 
croscope reveals  an  infinity  in  the  descending  scale, 
— an  infinity  of  minuteness  and  condescension  and 
providence. 

The  practical  effect  of  such  views  of  the  Divine 
Being  is  important  to  morality.  For  the  good  order- 
ing of  human  life  they  are  infinitely  above  all  the 
speculations  and  theories  of  philosophy,  falsely  so 
called.  The  thought  that  the  infinite  and  all-wise 
God  is  ever  near  us  will  encourage  us  in  virtue  and 
deter  us  from  vice.  There  is  no  lonely  spot  in  the 
universe  where  He  is  not  present.  There  is  no  tear 
which  He  sees  not,  no  pang  which  He  notes  not,  and 
no  prayer  which  He  hears  not.     There  is  no  crime, 

13 


146  Practical  Effect  of  S2ich   Views. 

also,  which  He  is  not  aware  of.  He  attends  to  all  our 
projects.  He  compasses  our  path  and  our  lying  down, 
and  is  acquainted  with  all  our  ways.  God  is  our  ever- 
present  Father,  and  holds  the  helm  of  the  universe,  as 
a  living,  thinking,  loving  person.  Such  views  infuse 
strength,  and  give  a  vigor  to  human  character  which 
is  impossible  without  them.  When  Mungo  Park  was 
separated  from  his  companions  and  was  lost  in  the 
desert, — when,  weary  and  faint  at  heart,  he  lay  down 
under  the  shadow  of  a  rock  to  die,  —  it  was  not 
the  mystery  and  majesty  of  the  Almighty,  as  seen 
in  the  vast,  ocean-like  expanse  of  the  desert,  which 
infused  new  strength  into  his  soul ;  but,  observing  a 
delicate  flower  in  the  crevice  of  the  rock,  he  called 
to  mind  the  care  and  providence  of  an  ever-present 
Deity,  and  was  encouraged  to  make  the  effort  which  re- 
sulted in  his  deliverance.  So  when  our  Saviour  would 
teach  us  true  confidence  in  God,  He  does  not  remind 
us  of  his  vast  dominion,  but  tells  us  of  sparrows  and 
flowers,  and  asks,  "Are  ye  not  much  better  than 
they  ?  .  .  .  Wherefore,  if  God  so  clothe  the  grass  of 
the  field,  which  to-day  is,  and  to-morrow  is  cast  into 
-the  oven,  shall  He  not  much  more  clothe  you,  O 
ye  of  little  faith  ?" 


CHAPTER    VI. 
THE  CREATION. 


"  These  are  the  generations  of  the  heavens  and  of  the  earth  when  they 

were  created,  in  the  day  that  the  Lord  God  made  the  earth  and  the 

heavens." 

Gen.  ii.  4. 


(147) 


CONTENTS. 

The  Biblical  Cosmogony  most  rational  of  all  Antiquity — Not  confined 
to  Genesis — Object  of  Geology — The  Rosetta  Stone — Geologic 
Theories  not  settled — Testimonies  of  Guyot,  Silliman,  Buckland, 
Balfour,  Cuvier,  Lyell,  Brewster,  Agassiz,  and  Humboldt — Excep- 
tions to  Invariable  Law  a  Proof  of  Personal  Will — Change,  and 
not  Invariability,  taught  by  Science — Geologic  History  of  the  Earth, 
and  its  Consistency  with  the  Scriptures — Geology  a  Science  of 
Beginnings,  and  of  Creation  by  Successive  Fiats — Refutes  the 
Chief  Objection  against  Miracles — Presents  Analogies  confirmatory 
of  Scripture  Prophecy — Our  Relations  to  God  more  important  than 
Curiosities  of  History. 


(148) 


CHAPTER   VI. 

THE   CREATION. 

The  scriptural  account  of  creation  is  simply  a  brief 
outline,  given  in  general  language,  such  as  adapts 
itself  to  men  of  every  age  and  in  every  stage  of  in- 
tellectual development.  Some  of  this  language  is  pic- 
torial, or  metaphorical,  and  other  parts  are  literal  and 
historical.  Its  evident  design  was  the  annunciation 
of  certain  principles  and  facts  as  preliminary  to  the 
religious  history  of  the  Israelites,  and  the  unfolding 
of  the  Divine  intention  respecting  human  redemption. 
Its  brevity  and  mixed  style  render  it  difficult  to  inter- 
pret as  to  minute  particulars ;  nor  is  it  necessary  to 
the  design-  of  the  Scriptures  that  it  should  be  so 
interpreted. 

Brief  as  it  is,  the  biblical  history  of  the  creation 
was  for  centuries  the  plainest,  most  rational,  and  most 
consistent  known  to  mankind.  The  creation  of  the 
world  out  of  nothing  by  the  power  of  God,  its  globu- 
lar form  and  suspension  in  space,  and  its  gradual 
preparation  as  a  habitation  for  man,  were  clearly 
taught  by  the  Bible  when  all  the  ancient  philosophies 
and  systems  of  heathenism  were  full  of  the  crudest 
and  most  absurd  theories.  Thus,  in  Greek  and  Latin 
philosophy  the  heavens  were  considered  a  solid 
13-  (  149  ) 


150  Ancient  Cosmic al  Systems. 

vault,  studded  with  stars;  and  to  account  for  the 
motion  of  the  planets,  men  fancied  that  there  existed 
a  strange  machinery  of  cycles  and  epicycles.  Plato 
held  that  the  world  was  an  intelligent  being,  and 
Xenophanes  taught  that  God  and  the  world  were  the 
same  thing.  In  the  Hindoo  philosophy  the  world  is 
represented  as  flat  and  triangular,  composed  of  several 
stories,  the  whole  mass  sustained  upon  the  heads  of 
elephants,  who  in  turn  are  supported  by  a  huge  tor- 
toise. Mohammed  taught  that  the  mountains  were 
created  to  prevent  the  earth  from  moving,  and  to 
hold  it  as  by  anchors  and  chains.  Even  the  Fathers 
of  the  church,  as  they  are  called,  neglecting  the  study 
of  the  Scriptures  for  the  speculations  of  the  old 
philosophers,  taught  doctrines  scarcely  less  absurd; 
and  Galileo  was  condemned  by  the  Inquisition  for 
teaching  the  motion  of  the  earth.  But  as  the  truths 
of  natural  science  have  been  developed  by  experi- 
ments and  observation,  and  rational  views  of  creation 
have  been  established,  they  have  been  found  consistent 
with,  and  often  anticipated  by,  the  language  of  Holy 
Writ. 

The  beginning  of  the  book  of  Genesis  is  not  the 
only  part  of  Scripture  descriptive  of  the  creation  of 
the  world,  and  in  interpreting  the  opening  chapters 
it  is  necessary  to  compare  them  with  other  accounts 
and  allusions  in  order  to  understand  their  real  mean- 
ing. Thus,  for  instance,  in  the  book  of  Job,  acknowl- 
edged to  be  one  of  the  oldest  in  the  Bible,  and  which 
contains  a  fuller  account  of  the  patriarchal  faith  than 
any  other,  we  read,  "Where  wast  thou  when  I  laid 


Teachings  of  Geology.  151 

the  foundations  of  the  earth?  declare,  if  thou  hast 
understanding.  Who  hath  laid  the  measures  thereof, 
if  thou  knowest?  or  who  hath  stretched  the  line  upon 
it?  Whereupon  are  the  foundations  thereof  fastened? 
or  who  laid  the  corner-stone  thereof;  when  the  morn- 
ing stars  sang  together,  and  all  the  sons  of  God 
shouted  for  joy?"  This  language  is  full  of  Oriental 
metaphor,  but  it  must  have  had  its  foundation  in 
patriarchal  ideas  respecting  creation.  The  entire 
passage,  and  especially  the  phrase,  "  Who  hath  laid 
the  measures  thereof?"  implies  an  opinion  that  it 
was  gradually  formed,  if  indeed  the  discovery  of  the 
earth's  strata  was  not  anticipated.  The  passage  also 
suggests  that  the  arrangement  of  the  earth  was  not 
the  first  of  God's  creative  acts,  but  that  when  the 
foundations  of  the  earth  were  laid,  "the  morning 
stars  sang  together,  and  all  the  sons  of  God  shouted 
for  joy;"  showing  that  there  were  intelligent  inhab- 
itants of  other  worlds,  who  were  interested  spectators 
of  the  birth  of  our  planet. 

The  science  of  geology  investigates  the  earth's 
crust,  and  considers  its  various  changes.  It  has 
brought  to  light  remains  of  extinct  animals  and 
vegetables,  some  of  them  of  strange  forms  and  of  gi- 
gantic size,  entombed  in  the  rocky  strata  of  the  earth. 
From  the  time  of  Cuvier,  who  first  studied  these  fos- 
sil remains  in  the  gypsum  quarries  of  Paris,  to  the 
present,  this  science  has  been  assiduously  prosecuted, 
and  the  leaves  of  the  great  stone  book  of  Nature 
turned  over  in  search  of  information.  All  over  these 
pages  are  strange  hieroglyphics, — pictures  of  plants 


152  Eminent  Geologists  not  skeptical. 

and  reptiles  and  birds  and  beasts,  which  record  the 
story  of  their  birth  and  of  their  overthrow,  often  in 
minute  particulars. 

The  gradual  unfolding  of  these  facts  was  witnessed 
on  the  one  hand  by  weak-minded  theologians  with 
dread,  lest  the  foundations  of  Scripture  faith  should 
be  overturned,  —  as  if  Nature,  properly  interpreted, 
could  ever  contradict  God's  word  ! — and  on  the  other 
hand  was  prematurely  hailed  by  half-educated  infidels 
as  a  contribution  to  their  cause.  The  great  masters 
of  science  and  humble  Christians  remained  unmoved, 
being  fully  persuaded  that  "the  word  of  the  Lord 
endureth  forever."  While  infidelity  claimed  that  the 
testimony  of  the  rocks  disagreed  with  the  biblical 
account,  and  urged  that  the  so-called  **  law  of  devel- 
opment" was  the  true  order  of  nature,  by  which  man 
and  all  the  tribes  of  animated  being  have  risen  from 
more  primitive  types  and  atoms,  the  discoverers  and 
leaders  of  modern  science  could  find  no  such  dis- 
agreement and  no  such  conclusions.  Notwithstand- 
ing the  published  opinions  of  such  men,  however,  we 
frequently  find  in  current,  and  especially  newspaper, 
literature,  their  names  associated  with  sentiments  of 
atheistic  tendency,  as  if  they  had  given  the  weight  of 
their  influence  on  the  side  of  infidelity.  To  such  low 
arts  do  the  votaries  of  skepticism  resort.  We  quote 
a  few  of  the  testimonies  published  by  such  men  as 
science  delights  to  honor,  and  then  examine  the  teach- 
ing of  geology  respecting  the  creation  of  the  earth, 
and  its  consistency  with  Scripture. 

During  the  French  campaign  in  Egypt,  the  troops 


The  Rosetta  Stone.  153 

stationed  at  Rosetta  dug  up  a  mutilated  block  of 
basalt,  containing  inscriptions  in  three  characters, 
arranged  in  parallel  columns.  One  of  these  columns 
consisted  of  figures  of  animals  and  birds  and  imple- 
ments, like  the  hieroglyphics  which  cover  the  Egyp- 
tian monuments.  Another  column  was  in  Greek 
characters,  and  contained  a  decree  of  Ptolemy  Epiph- 
anes,  which  concluded  with  these  words:  "This 
decree  shall  be  engraved  on  a  hard  stone,  in  sacred, 
common,  and  Greek  characters."  The  third  column 
was  in  Coptic.  The  fortune  of  war  carried  this  stone 
to  the  British  Museum,  where  it  attracted  great  at- 
tention from  learned  antiquaries,  and  from  it,  after 
much  labor  and  research,  the  celebrated  Champollion 
obtained  the  key  to  the  hieroglyphics  of  ancient 
Egypt,  by  which  the  history  of  that  country  has 
been  so  largely  explored.  That  Rosetta  stone,  con- 
taining the  same  record  in  various  characters,  may 
well  represent  the  account  of  creation  given  in  the 
Scriptures  and  sealed  up  in  the  rocky  strata  of  the 
earth's  crust,  and  the  difficulties  found  in  the  inter- 
pretation of  the  hieroglyphics  may  warn  us  against 
hasty  conclusions  respecting  the  other.  If  the  guesses 
of  linguists  and  antiquaries  were  crude  and  false 
until  Champollion  discovered  the  true  method  of 
interpretation,  we  need  not  expect  the  true  rendering 
of  geology  and  the  Scriptures  to  be  more  easy, 
especially  when  we  remember  that  the  hieroglyphics 
in  the  rocks  are  an  extended  commentary  upon, 
rather  than  a  copy  of,  the  brief  record  of  the  Bible. 
The  difficulty  is  not  so  much  in  the  scriptural  account 


1^4  Professor  Guy  of  s  Testimony, 

as  in  the  more  extended  field  of  geology.  This  latter 
science  is  comparatively  young,  yet  its  hypothesis 
of  creation  has  been  changed  several  times  already 
to  meet  the  demands  of  maturer  research.  The 
Neptunian  and  Plutonian  theories,  as  they  were  called, 
struggled  hard  for  the  mastery,  but  at  length  a  com- 
promise was  effected,  and  geologists  acceded  to  the 
view  that  the  crystalline  strata  of  the  earth's  crust 
were  of  igneous  origin,  and  the  rest  were  sediment- 
ary. The  recent  discovery  of  fossil  remains  of  ani- 
mal life  (the  Eozoon)  in  the  Laurentian  granite  or 
gneiss  bids  fair,  however,  to  necessitate  another  and 
different  arrangement  of  geological  deductions.  The 
tendency  also  appears  in  some  eminent  geologists  to 
regard  the  elevation  of  the  mountains  as  the  result 
of  subsidence  rather  than  upheaval.  Such  changes 
should  teach  us  caution,  and  prevent  us  from  con- 
sidering the  scientific  views  of  any  age  an  absolute 
standard  of  truth. 

With  regard  to  the  agreement  of  geology  and 
Scripture,  Professor  Guyot,  one  of  the  most  distin- 
guished physical  geographers  of  the  present  day,  re- 
marks, "To  a  sincere  and  unsophisticated  mind,  it 
must  be  evident  that  the  grand  outlines  sketched  by 
Moses  are  the  same  as  those  which  modern  science 
enables  us  to  trace;  however  imperfect  and  unsettled 
the  details  furnished  by  scientific  inquiries  may  ap- 
pear on  many  points.  Whatever  changes  we  may 
expect  to  be  introduced  by  new  discoveries,  in  our 
present  view  of  the  universe  and  the  globe,  the  promi- 
nent points  of  this  vast  picture  will  remain.     And 


Prof.Silliman  on  the  Word'' Day T  155 

these  only  are  traced  out  in  this  admirable  account 
of  Genesis.  These  outlines  were  sufficient  for  the 
moral  purposes  of  the  book;  the  scientific  details  are 
for  us  patiently  to  investigate.  They  were  no  doubt 
unknown  to  Moses,  as  the  details  of  the  life  and  work 
of  the  Saviour  were  unknown  to  the  great  prophets 
who  announced  his  coming  and  traced  out  with 
master-hand  his  character  and  objects  centuries  be- 
fore his  appearance  on  earth.  But  the  same  Divine 
hand  which  lifted  up  before  the  eyes  of  Daniel  and  of 
Isaiah  the  veil  which  covered  the  tableau  of  the  time 
to  come,  unveiled  before  the  eyes  of  the  author  of 
Genesis  the  earliest  ages  of  the  creation.  And  Moses 
was  the  prophet  of  the  past,  as  Daniel,  and  Isaiah,  and 
many  others,  were  the  prophets  of  the  future." 

Professor  Silliman  finds  it  easy  to  reconcile  all  the 
teachings  of  geology  with  the  account  in  Genesis,  by 
regarding  the  term  "  day,"  as  used  in  a  popular  sense, 
to  represent  a  period  of  time.  He  says,  in  his  lec- 
ture before  the  Smithsonian  Institute,  **  The  allusion 
in  the  Commandments  and  in  other  parts  of  the  Scrip- 
tures to  the  six  days  would,  of  course,  be  made  in 
conformity  with  the  language  adopted  in  the  narra- 
tive, which,  being  for  the  masses  of  mankind,  was 
necessarily  a  popular  history,  although  of  Divine 
origin ;  and  the  historian  adopted  a  division  of  time 
that  was  in  general  use,  although,  as  to  half  the  time 
at  least,  it  was  inconsistent  with  astronomical  laws. 
Extension  of  the  time  so  as  to  cover  the  events  by 
the  operation  of  physical  laws  removes  every  diffi- 
culty, and  interferes  with  no  doctrine  of  religion." 


156  Prof.  Balfour  on  Botanical  Species. 

Dr.  Buckland,  referring  to  the  timidity  or  prejudice 
which  once  existed  against  geology,  says,  "The  alarm 
which  was  excited  by  its  first  discoveries  has  well- 
nigh  passed  away ;  and  those  to  whom  it  has  been 
permitted  to  be  the  humble  instruments  of  their  pro- 
mulgation, and  who  have  steadily  persevered,  under 
the  firm  conviction  that  '  truth  can  never  be  opposed 
to  truth,'  and  that  the  works  of  God,  when  rightly 
understood,  and  viewed  in  their  true  relations  and 
from  a  right  position,  would  at  length  be  found  to  be 
in  perfect  accordance  with  his  word,  are  now  receiv- 
ing their  high  reward  in  finding  difficulties  vanish, 
objections  gradually  withdrawn,  and  in  seeing  the 
evidences  of  geology  admitted  into  the  list  of  wit- 
nesses to  the  truth  of  the  great  fundamental  doctrines 
of  Christianity." 

Similar  testimonies  are  given  by  the  highest  scien- 
tific authorities,  in  reference  to  the  notion  of  the 
development  of  one  species  of  beings  into  another  of 
a  higher  type.  Professor  Balfour,  an  eminent  botani- 
cal writer,  says,  "  There  are  no  doubt  differences  in 
the  individuals  of  a  species,  depending  on  soil,  and  on 
different  conditions  of  heat,  light,  and  moisture.  But 
these  differences  are  not  incompatible  with  the  idea 
of  a  common  origin ;  and,  moreover,  we  find  that 
there  is  always  a  tendency  to  return  to  type.  In 
illustration  of  this  statement,  we  may  refer  to  ordi- 
nary vegetables,  such  as  cabbage,  cauliflower, broccoli, 
etc.  This  plant  (the  Brassica)  grows  wild  on  our 
sea-shores  in  certain  places,  and  when  cultivated  it 
assumes  peculiar  forms.     Thus  it  forms  a  heart,  as  in 


Cuvier  on  the  Development  Hypothesis,       157 

ordinary  cabbage;  its  flower-stalks  become  thickened 
or  shortened,  as  in  cauliflower  or  broccoli ;  or  its  cel- 
lular tissue  is  largely  developed,  so  as  to  give  rise  to 
the  curled  appearance  of  greens.  These  varieties  are 
continued  by  cultivation  ;  and  after  a  series  of  genera- 
tions, the  seeds  of  the  varieties  propagate,  more  or 
less  completely,  plants  of  a  similar  nature.  But  if 
they  are  allowed  to  grow  wild,  then  in  the  progress 
of  time  the  variations  disappear,  and  the  original  type 
of  the  species  is  reverted  to.  The  varieties  of  apples 
and  pears  are  continued  by  the  art  of  horticulture  and 
the  process  of  grafting ;  but  the  seeds  of  these  plants, 
when  allowed  to  grow  wild,  produce  the  original 
stock,  viz.,  the  crab-apple  or  crab-pear,  whence  all  the 
varieties  have  been  produced.  All  these  facts  show 
the  permanency  of  species  in  nature,  and  contradict 
the  crude  ideas  of  those  so-called  naturalists  who 
state  that  one  species  can  be  transmuted  into  another 
in  the  course  of  generations." 

Cuvier  asks,  "  Why,  if  such  transformations  have 
occurred,  do  not  the  bowels  of  the  earth  preserve  the 
records  of  such  a  curious  genealogy  ?" 

Lyell  gives  it  as  the  result  of  careful  inquiry, 
"  That  species  have  a  real  existence  in  nature,  and 
that  each  was  endowed  at  the  time  of  its  creation 
with  the  attributes  and  organs  by  which  it  is  dis- 
tinguished." 

Sir  Charles  Bell  says,  "Everything  declares  the 
species  to  have  its  origin  in  a  distinct  creation,  not  in  a 
gradual  variation  from  some  original  type." 

Sir  David  Brewster  argues  at  length  against  the 
u 


158  Brewster  on  Natural  Selection. 

speculations  of  Darwin,  and  his  theory  of  "  natura'j 
selection."  He  says,  "  Naturalists  of  high  authority 
have  followed  Mr.  Darwin  through  all  his  argu- 
ments, and  have  shown  in  the  clearest  manner  that 
his  theory  is  inconsistent  with  the  very  facts  upon 
which  he  has  rested  it."  He  also  declares  that  "in 
the  fossil  remains  of  the  pre-Adamite  ages  there  is 
not  the  slightest  proof  of  any  variations  in  the  suc- 
cessive inhabitants  of  the  earth.  Mr.  Darwin  him- 
self admits,  to  use  his  own  words,  *  that  this  is  the 
most  obvious  and  grave  objection  to  his  theory/ 
but  yet  conjectures  that  rocks  still  undiscovered, 
and  myriads  of  ages  older  than  the  Cambrian  or 
azoic  strata,  may  still  bear  testimony  to  his  views. 
When  such  strata  with  such  indications  are  dis- 
covered, when  the  instinct  of  the  elephant  shall 
have  expanded  into  reason,  and  the  chatter  of  the 
parrot  have  its  climax  in  speech,  we  may  then  claim 
kindred  with  the  brutes  that  perish." 

There  has  been  an  attempt  of  late,  in  certain 
quarters,  to  drag  the  names  of  Agassiz  and  Hum- 
boldt into  the  support  of  skeptical  theories  of  crea- 
tion and  against  the  Bible;  but  the  dishonesty  of 
such  efforts  will  be  evident  from  the  following  quo- 
tations. 

In  his  "  Methods  of  Study  in  Natural  History," 
Agassiz  says,  "  It  is  my  belief  that  naturalists  are 
chasing  a  phantom  in  their  search  after  some  ma- 
terial gradation  among  created  beings,  by  which  the 
whole  animal  kingdom  may  have  been  derived  by 
successive  development  from  a  single  germ,  or  from 


Prof.  Agassiz  on  Development.  i^^ 

a  few  germs.  It  would  seem,  from  the  frequency 
with  which  this  notion  is  revived, — ever  returning 
upon  us  with  hydra-headed  tenacity  of  Hfe,  and  pre- 
senting itself  under  a  new  form  as  soon  as  the  pre- 
ceding one  has  been  exploded  and  set  aside, — that 
it  has  a  certain  fascination  for  the  human  mind. 
This  arises,  perhaps,  from  the  desire  to  explain  the 
secret  of  our  own  existence;  to  have  some  simple 
and  easy  solution  of  the  fact  that  we  live.  I  confess 
that  there  seems  to  me  to  be  a  repulsive  poverty  in 
this  material  explanation,  that  is  contradicted  by  the 
intellectual  grandeur  of  the  universe :  the  resources 
of  the  Deity  cannot  be  so  meagre  that,  in  order  to 
create  a  human  being  endowed  with  reason,  He  must 
change  a  monkey  into  a  man.  ...  I  nevertheless 
insist  that  this  theory  is  opposed  to  the  processes  of 
Nature,  as  far  as  we  have  been  able  to  apprehend 
them ;  that  it  is  contradicted  by  the  facts  of  embry- 
ology and  paleontology,  the  former  showing  us  norms 
of  development  as  distinct  and  persistent  for  each 
group  as  are  the  fossil  types  of  each  period  revealed 
to  us  by  the  latter;  and  that  the  experiments  upon 
domesticated  animals  and  cultivated  plants,  on  which 
its  adherents  base  their  views,  are  entirely  foreign  to 
the  matter  in  hand,  since  the  varieties  thus  brought 
about  by  the  fostering  care  of  man  are  of  an  entirely 
different  character  from  those  observed  among  wild 
species.  And  while  their  positive  evidence  is  inap- 
plicable, their  negative  evidence  is  equally  unsatis- 
factory, since,  however  long  and  frequent  the  breaks 
in  the  geological  series  may  be  in  which  they  would 


i6o  Humboldfs  ^'Cosmos''  not  infidel. 

fain  bury  their  transition  types,  there  are  many  points 
in  the  succession  where  the  connection  is  perfectly 
distinct  and  unbroken,  and  it  is  just  at  these  points 
that  new  organic  groups  are  introduced  without  any 
intermediate  forms  to  hnk  them  with  the  preceding 
ones." 

Again  he  says,  "  I  cannot  repeat  too  emphatically 
that  there  is  not  a  single  fact  in  embryology  to  jus- 
tify the  assumption  that  the  laws  of  development, 
now  known  to  be  so  precise  and  definite  for  every 
animal,  have  ever  been  less  so,  or  have  ever  been 
allowed  to  run  into  each  other.  The  philosopher's 
stone  is  no  more  to  be  found  in  the  organic  than  the 
inorganic  world ;  and  we  shall  seek  as  vainly  to  trans- 
form the  lower  animal  types  into  the  higher  ones  by 
any  of  our  theories,  as  did  the  alchemists  of  old  to 
change  the  baser  metals  into  gold.  .  .  .  Classification, 
rightly  understood,  means  simply  the  creative  plan  of 
God,as  expressed  in  organic  forms.  .  .  .  Breeds  among 
animals  are  the  work  of  man ;  species  were  created 
by  God." 

With  respect  to  Humboldt,  we  have  already,  in 
Chapter  III.,  quoted  from  the  "Cosmos"  his  opinion 
as  to  the  common  origin  of  mankind.  To  this  it  suf- 
fices to  add  the  following.  Speaking  of  the  idea  of  a 
Cosmos,  he  says,  "We  may  here  trace  the  revekUon 
of  a  bond  of  union  linking  together  the  visible  world 
and  that  higher  spiritual  world  which  escapes  the 
grasp  of  the  senses."  Again,  he  quotes  approvingly 
a  passage  from  his  brother  Wilhelm  von  Humboldt, 
referring  to  the  bond  of  humanity,  in  which  he  says, 


Exceptions  to  Law.  i6i 

"  It  was  Christianity  which  first  promulgated  the  truth 
of  its  exalted  charity,  although  the  seed  sown  yielded 
but  a  slow  and  scanty  harvest.  Before  the  religion 
of  Christ  manifested  its  form,  its  existence  was  only 
revealed  by  a  faint  foreshadowing  presentiment."  He 
also  devotes  several  pages  to  eulogy  of  the  noble 
descriptions  of  nature  in  the  Old  Testament,  in  the 
most  eloquent  language  of  a  true. believer. 

We  thus  see  that  in  the  opinion  of  the  best  geolo- 
gists and  naturalists  there  appears  no  discrepancy 
between  the  teaching  of  nature  and  of  the  Bible  re- 
specting creation.  It  remains  now  for  us  to  trace  the 
parallelism  with  reference  to  details. 

Those  skeptical  philosophers  who  reject  the  biblical 
account  of  creation  are  influenced  by  metaphysical 
ideas  of  the  nature  of  "  law,"  meaning  by  this  term 
not  a  mode  of  being  or  an  order  of  sequence,  but 
an  invariable  order  in  the  economy  and  framework  of 
nature,  which  they  claim  to  have  been  from  all  eter- 
nity. The  question  is  simply  one  of  invariable  ne- 
cessity, or  fate,  against  free  will.  Sir  Isaac  Newton 
(Chapter  V.)  repudiated  the  idea  that  blind  metaphys- 
ical necessity  could  produce  any  variety,  and  regarded 
the  diversity  of  natural  phenomena  as  a  proof  of  the 
ideas  and  will  of  a  personal  Creator ;  and  such  will 
be  the  conclusion  of  every  thoughtful  and  candid 
student.  For,  while  the  general  order  and  regularity 
of  the  universe  are  undeniable,  exceptions  enough 
occur,  even  in  the  sphere  of  natural  science,  to  say 
nothing  of  Scripture  teaching,  to  show  the  interference 
and  supreme  control  of  personal  will. 

14* 


1 62  Variations  from  General  Laws. 

The  following  examples  afford  illustrations  of  such 
exceptions.  The  various  densities  of  the  sun  and 
planets  follow  no  regular  order,  like  that  oftheii 
revolutions  and  distances  ;  for  while  the  Earth,  Venus, 
and  Mars  have  nearly  the  same  density,  Mercury  is 
to  the  Earth  as  i'40  is  to  i.  Jupiter  is  as  "24,  Saturn 
as  -13,  Her<»chel  as  '17,  and  Neptune  as  'iS  to  i, 
compared  with  the  Earth,  The  motions  of  the  planets 
are,  as  a  general  rule,  from  west  to  east,  in  elliptical 
orbits,  and  in  nearly  the  same  plane  as  the  orbit  of 
the  Earth;  but  the  satellites  of  Herschel,  and  per- 
haps of  Neptune,  move  in  a  retrograde  direction,  or 
from  east  to  west,  in  circular  orbits,  nearly  perpen- 
dicular to  the  Earth's  orbit.  The  motions  of  comets 
present  the  greatest  variety  possible  with  the  influence 
of  gravity,  moving  in  parabolas,  hyperbolas,  and  ellip- 
ses of  all  degrees  of  elongation  and  at  all  angles  of 
inclination  to  the  ecliptic.  A  single  instance  more  of 
divergence  from  general  physical  laws  will  suffice : 
"  Perhaps  the  only  real  exception  to  the  general  law 
of  bodies  dilating  by  heat,  and  contracting  in  propor- 
tion as  they  are  cooled,  occurs  in  the  case  of  water. 
If  this  fluid  be  heated  to  its  boiling-point,  it  will  ex- 
pand like  other  liquids ;  and  if  then  it  be  allowed  to 
cool,  it  will  be  found  to  contract  in  bulk  steadily  until 
it  attains  the  temperature  of  40°  R,  at  which  point  it 
will  attain  its  maximum  of  density.  On  continuing 
to  diminish  its  temperature,  the  water  will  commence 
dilating  in  bulk  until  it  attains  the  freezing-point,  or 
32°  F.,  and  if  it  be  cooled  below  this  point  without 
freezing,  by  avoiding  all  agitation,  it  will  still  continue 


Nature  not  invariable.  163 

to  expand."*  **  In  the  act  of  freezing,  a  more  marked 
amount  of  dilatation  occurs  ;  the  bursting  of  water- 
pipes  in  winter  from  this  cause  is  a  phenomenon  familiar 
to  every  one."t  The  great  importance  of  this  ex- 
ception  will  be  evident  when  we  reflect  upon  the  con 
sequences  which  would  otherwise  ensue.  The  ice  ot 
our  rivers  and  lakes  would  sink  to  the  bottom;  layer 
after  layer  would  be  formed  and  sink,  forming  a 
frozen  mass  which  no  summer's  sun  could  melt; 
'*  but,  by  the  ordinances  of  Infinite  Wisdom,  it  has 
been  ordained  that  water  should  expand  instead  of 
contracting  below  the  temperature  of  40°,  and  the 
sheet  of  ice  once  formed,  being  lighter  than  water, 
floats  on  its  surface  instead  of  sinking,  and  thus  helps 
to  protect  the  fluid  below  from  the  further  influence 
of  cold."t 

It  seems  plainly  impossible  to  account  for  such 
variations  from  the  general  order  of  things — and  their 
number  is  great — by  any  scheme  of  necessity  what- 
ever. The  hand  of  an  Intelligent  Personal  Will  is 
clearly  seen  in  all.  Further,  it  is  plainly  taught  by 
physical  science  that  the  original  order  impressed  on 
each  part  of  nature  is  not  invariable,  so  that  the  idea 
of  "immutable  laws  of  nature"  is  a  figment  of  the 
metaphysical  brain,  without  corroboration  in  nature 
itself  Our  truest  confidence  is  not  in  necessity  and 
destiny  and  immutable  law,  but  in  the  holiness  and 
wisdom  of  a  personal  Creator,  who   arranges   and 


*  Elements  of  Natural  Philosophy,  by  Dr.  Gelding  Bird. 
t  Ibid.  X  Ibid. 


164  Geologic  Testimony, 

adapts  his  universe  to  the  needs  of  his  moral  gov- 
ernment. The  subordination  of  nature  to  moral  law 
is  seen  everywhere.  Vast  and  mysterious  changes 
occur  in  the  universe.  Suns  burn  up  in  the  firma- 
ment before  our  eyes.  Planets  burst  asunder  into 
fragments.  The  moon  gives  evidence  of  volcanic 
and  disruptive  force.  Everywhere  in  the  universe 
we  find  denials  of  the  fanciful  and  infidel  notion  of 
creation  evolving  by  gradual  development.  Every- 
where we  see  evidences  of  change  and  convulsion  and 
rearrangement,  and,  although  we  may  not  always  per- 
ceive the  design,  the  hand  of  an  intelligent  Designer 
is  plainly  manifest. 

Geology,  as  well  as  other  branches  of  science, 
bears  testimony  to  these  truths.  It  shows  us  that  by 
many  revolutions  the  earth  has  been  prepared  to  be 
the  abode  of  numerous  races,  the  only  proof  of  whose 
existence  is  imbedded  in  the  solid  rock.  The  appear- 
ance of  the  earth's  crust  is  that  of  a  succession  of 
ruined  worlds.  The  existence  of  man  has  been  of 
comparatively  short  duration.  Preceding  his  creation 
the  earth  was  fitted  for  the  habitation  of  giant  mon- 
sters, whose  description,  but  for  the  demonstrations 
of  science,  would  comport  more  with  the  fables  of 
fairy-land  than  with  actual  reality.  In  ages  anterior 
to  these,  a  gigantic  and  luxuriant  vegetation  flourished 
in  a  tropical  climate,  and  formed  the  origin  of  our 
beds  of  coal.  Still  further  back  in  the  history  of  past 
eternity,  a  wide-spread  sea  covered  the  greater  part 
of  the  world,  full  of  strange  fishes,  high  in  the 
scale  of  organic  life,  as  well  as  of  simpler  forms  of 


Geology  and  Sacred  Scriptures  reconciled.     165 

animated  existence.  From  this  point  we  seem  to 
lose  the  last  vestige  of  life,  and  enter  a  desert  and 
dreary  region,  which  stands  as  a  barrier  to  our 
researches. 

How  are  we  to  reconcile  the  geologic  history  of 
the  globe  with  the  simple  account  of  creation  given 
in  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis?  The  answer  to  this 
question  will  not  be  difficult  when  we  remember  that 
it  was  not  the  object  of  the  Bible  to  teach  the  natural 
history  of  the  world,  but  the  history  of  man's  re- 
demption. The  announcement  of  the  creation  of 
mankind,  and  an  account  of  the  events  immediately 
preparatory  to  man's  creation,  in  brief  and  general 
terms,  was  sufficient  for  its  design.  It  declares,  there- 
fore, in  language  at  once  accurate  and  sublime,  that 
"  In  the  beginning  God  created  the  heavens  and  the 
earth."  Passing  over  all  the  convulsions  of  past  his- 
tory as  irrelevant,  it  refers  to  the  condition  of  the  earth 
at  the  period  preceding  man's  history :  "  And  the  earth 
was  without  form,  and  void;  and  darkness  was  upon 
the  face  of  the  deep.  And  the  Spirit  of  God  moved 
upon  the  face  of  the  waters."  The  words  translated 
"without  form,  and  void,"  may  be  rendered  "empti- 
ness and  confusion."  Either  rendering,  however, 
points  to  the  wreck  of  a  former  state.  From  the  gen- 
eral tenor  of  Scripture  we  are  warranted  in  saying  that 
God  makes  nothing  originally  "without  form,  and 
void."  What  comes  from  his  forming  hand  is  per- 
fectly adapted  for  its  use.  The  confusion  and  dis- 
order, therefore,  of  what  we  term  chaos,  point  to  an 
overturning  of  a  former  condition  of  things.     Thus 


1 66  Term  '^ Day''  indefinite. 

the  Bible  history  affords  room  for  all  the  geological 
changes,  however  vast  in  nature  or  duration. 

After  this  brief  reference  to  past  convulsions,  the 
Bible  describes  the  preparation  and  furnishing  of  the 
earth  for  man's  abode  as  a  gradual  process,  during  six 
days,  on  the  last  of  which  man  was  created.  These 
days  were  not  such  days  as  ours,  of  twenty-four  hours' 
length,  as  is  evident  from  Gen.  ii.  4,  where  all  six  days 
are  called  "  one  day,"  and  "  generations,"  also.  The 
word  "  day"  is  used  in  Scripture  with  great  latitude 
of  meaning,  just  as  it  is  used  in  common  language, 
as  when  we  speak  of  **  our  own  day,"  instead  of  "  our 
own  age."  Thus,  we  read,  "  Our  days  on  the  earth  are 
as  a  shadow,  and  there  is  none  abiding."  "  Turn  from 
him,  that  he  may  rest,  till  he  shall  accomplish,  as  an 
hireling,  his  day."  "  One  day  is  with  the  Lord  as  a 
thousand  years,  and  a  thousand  years  as  one  day." 
The  word  "  day,"  as  used  in  popular  language  among 
ourselves,  is  generally  restricted  to  express  the  diurnal 
revolution  of  the  earth  on  its  axis.  Sometimes,  how- 
ever, we  mean  by  it  the  time  during  which  one-half 
of  the  earth's  surface  is  presented  to  the  sun.  Thus 
the  word,  in  its  most  common  use,  has  two  meanings, 
one  referring  to  a  period  of  twenty-four  hours,  and 
the  other  varying  according  to  the  period  of  the  year 
and  the  latitude  of  the  place.  At  the  poles,  the  days 
and  nights  are  alternately  six  months  long. 

The  Hebrews  used  the  equivalent  word  to  repre- 
sent any  period  of  time,  and,  as  contradistinguished 
from  night,  the  word  expressed  light  and  warmth.  It 
certainly  could  not  have  been  appropriated  to  such 


Accordance  of  the  two  Records.  167 

periods  as  our  ordinary  days  before  the  fourth  Mosaic 
period,  when  the  sun  was  appointed  "  for  signs,  and 
for  seasons,  and  for  days,  and  years."  The  periods 
preceding  this  must,  in  the  nature  of  the  case,  have 
been  indefinite.  At  least  we  have  no  means,  in  the 
present  state  of  our  knowledge,  of  determining  their 
length. 

The  accordance  of  the  two  records,  the  Mosaic 
and  the  geological,  maybe  seen  in  several  things: 
I.  The  Bible,  in  direct  opposition  to  atheism  and 
pantheism,  declares  that  the  earth  had  a  "  beginning," 
and  geology  confirms  it.  That  science  is  emphatically 
a  history  of  beginnings.  If  we  descend  in  imagina- 
tion and  traverse  an  ideal  section  of  the  earth's  crust, 
we  shall  find  formation  following  formation,  and  the 
remains  of  one  kind  of  animated  existence  after  an- 
other,— not  in  regular  gradation,  as  infidels  pretend, 
but  by  successive  beginnings.  It  is  true  that,  as  a  gen- 
eral rule,  the  less  complex  tribes  w^ere  more  numerous 
in  the  earlier  ages ;  yet  the  more  perfect  tribes  had 
also  their  representatives,  and  in  the  case  of  the 
sauroid  fishes  it  has  been  shown  by  Dr.  Buckland 
that  a  sort  of  retrograde  development,  from  complex 
to  simple  forms,  took  place,  the  more  perfect  species 
being  most  numerous  in  the  older  strata.  Entering 
our  downward  path  through  the  rocks,  a  single  step 
may  take  us  below  the  dust  of  Adam  and  the  limits 
of  human  history.  "From  the  moment  we  leave  the 
mere  surface  soil,  and  touch  even  the  nearest  of  the 
tertiary  beds,  all  traces  of  human  remains  disappear, 
so  that  let  our  grave  be  as  shallow  as  it  may  in  even 


1 68  Parallel  Testimonies. 

the  latest  stratified  bed,  we  have  to  make  it  in  the 
dust  of  a  departed  world."*  In  a  few  steps  more  we 
find  that  the  fossil  remains  of  all  familiar  forms  of 
life  are  diminishing,  and  before  we  leave  the  tertiary 
rocks  extinct  species  everywhere  predominate.  The 
secondary  formation  receives  us  into  a  new  series. 
The  upper,  or  chalk  beds,  are  full  of  strange  forms  of 
monstrous  reptiles;  the  middle,  or  coal  formation, 
contains  the  remains  of  an  extinct  vegetable  flora ; 
and  thousands  of  feet  below  we  find  traces  of  the 
inhabitants  of  the  ancient  sea.  At  length  we  reach 
a  region  "  older  than  death,  because  older  than  life 
itself"  All  the  conditions  of  life  appear  ended  in 
the  primitive  granite,  which  forms  not  only  the  lowest 
rocks,  but  also  the  highest  summits  of  the  mountains, 
— "the  highest  part  of  the  dust  of  the  world"  being, 
as  the  Bible  declares,  the  most  ancient. 

2.  The  Scriptures  also  teach  that  the  works  of 
nature  did  not  all  appear  simultaneously,  nor  by 
gradual  development,  but  by  successive  fiats,  or  ex- 
ertions of  creative  power;  and  abundant  proof  of 
this,  as  we  have  already  seen,  is  furnished  by  geology. 

Those  interpreters  who  think  that  the  Mosaic  days 
were  lengthened  periods,  descriptive  of  succes^ve 
geologic  changes,  are  not  without  evidence  of  proba- 
bility in  support  of  their  views ;  although  we  prefer 
the  view  which  regards  the  changes  recorded  in  the 

*  Harris's  Pre- Adamite  Earth.  If  it  shall  be  proved  that  man 
was  cotemporary  with  the  later  fossils,  the  sentiment  will  still  be  true 
that  he  is  geologically  recent. 


Life  before  Light.  169 

earth's  strata  to  have  occurred  in  the  period  between 
the  first  and  second  verses  of  Genesis.  We  quote 
from  the  parallel  drawn  by  a  recent  author:*  "  From 
Scripture  we  learn  that  'in  the  beginning  God  created 
the  heavens  and  the  earth,'  and  that  the  earth  was 
without  form,  and  void  (invisible  and  unfurnished), 
and  *  darkness  was  upon  the  face  of  the  deep.'  From 
geology  we  know  that  there  was  a  period  in  the 
ceaseless  flow  of  time  when  the  earth,  which  is  now 
clothed  with  verdure  and  throbs  with  animated  na- 
ture, was  a  watery  waste,  devoid  of  physical  life,  and 
enveloped  with  muddy  vapors  and  dense  clouds  of 
mist  and  fog,  which  effectually  shut  out  the  rays  of 
the  sun  from  its  surface. 

"  From  Scripture  we  learn  that  while  darkness  was 
upon  the  face  of  the  deep,  the  creative  Spirit  of  God 
brooded  upon  the  waters,  and  life  preceded  light. 
By  geology  we  are  taught  that  the  Spirit  of  the 
Creator  terminated  the  lifeless  state  of  our  planet  in 
the  next  succeeding  period  of  time,  by  pouring  sub- 
marine life  into  the  expanse  of  the  primeval  ocean, 
and  the  earliest  created  specimens  of  animal  life, 
anemones,  zoophytes,  and  coral  animalculae,  from  the 
combination  of  whose  tiny  labors  the  vast  beds  of 
limestone  have  proceeded  which  are  found  in  every 
part  of  the  world,  first  made  their  appearance;  but  all 
of  them  had  this  peculiarity,  that  they  were  devoid 
of  organs  adapted  to  the  perception  of  light;  thus 
leading   to   the   conclusion   that,   according   to   the 

«  Tullidge's  Triumphs  of  the  Bible. 
15 


i^o  Vegetation  before  Sunlight. 

Mosaic  narrative,  light  did  not  dawn  upon  the  globe 
when  life  first  stirred  in  the  waters. 

"  From  Scripture  we  learn  that  on  the  second  day 
the  atmosphere  was  formed,  and  that  a  canopy  oi 
clouds  was  suspended  above  the  firmament,  veiling 
the  heavenly  host  of  sun,  moon,  and  stars  from  the 
face  of  the  globe;  that  afterwards,  on  the  third  day, 
dry  land  and  vegetation  appeared ;  and  finally,  on  the 
fourth  day,  the  canopy  of  clouds  being  dissolved,  the 
heavenly  bodies  were  for  the  first  time  discerned,  to 
be  from  thenceforth  *  for  signs,  and  for  seasons,  and 
for  days,  and  for  years.'  From  geology  we  know 
that  at  the  close  of  the  Silurian  submarine  creation 
vast  mountains  were  upheaved  by  volcanic  forces 
from  the  deep,  and  land  vegetation  made  its  first 
appearance,  attesting  the  previous  existence  of  an 
atmosphere ;  and  from  the  same  source  disclosing  to 
us  the  mineral  contents  of  the  great  coal  measures, 
we  know  that  the  nature,  quantity,  and  quality  of  the 
vegetation  which  then  sprang  up  were  such  as  to 
demonstrate  the  growth  to  have  taken  place  under 
circumstances  of  long-continued  shade,  which  must 
at  last  have  been  dispelled  by  the  dispersion  of  the 
superincumbent  clouds  and  the  admission  of  the 
direct  rays  of  the  sun  to  the  earth's  surface.  The 
plants  of  the  great  carboniferous  epoch  are  such  as 
have  never  been  touched  by  a  sunbeam.  They  are 
such  precisely  as  would  have  grown  in  a  humid 
atmosphere;  the  r  wood  is  not  hardened,  as  that  of 
plants  on  which  the  pure  sunlight  falls.  Thus  both 
the  Mosaic  and  geological  records  concur  in  testify- 


Order  of  Creation.  Vf 

ing  that  the  order  of  creation  was,  a  clouded  atmos- 
phere, a  dry  land,  and  its  vegetation,  succeeded  by 
the  direct  and  unimpeded  radiance  of  the  sun,  moon, 
and  stars. 

"  From  Scripture  we  learn  that  the  next  display 
of  creative  power  was  an  abundance  of  great  sea- 
monsters,  terrestrial  reptiles,  and  winged  creatures; 
and  geology  exposes  to  our  view  in  the  next  suc- 
ceeding strata  the  organic  remains  of  the  then 
existing  tyrants  of  the  ocean,  the  land,  and  the 
air ;  and  we  behold  profuse  swarms  of  the  gigantic 
saurians  which  peopled  the  earth  in  *  the  age  of 
reptiles.' 

"From  Scripture  we  learn  that  the  next  step  was 
the  creation  of  cattle,  and  creeping  things,  and  beasts 
of  the  earth  (the  mammalia).  From  geology  we 
know  that  the  race  of  quadruped  mammals  did  not 
come  into  existence  until  after  the  age  of  reptiles; 
that  the  saurian  monsters,  with  the  other  oviparous 
reptiles  and  birds,  had  been  tenants  of  our  globe  for 
ages  before  we  find  any  traces  of  quadruped  mam- 
mals. 

"  Lastly,  from  Scripture  we  learn  that  the  closing 
and  completing  work  of  the  creation  was  man ;  and 
geology  triumphantly  confirms  the  revealed  fact  that 
submarine  animals,  land  vegetation,  reptiles,  birds, 
and  quadruped  mammals  were  all  of  them  in  exist- 
ence, successively  and  collectively,  before  the  first  of 
the  human  race.  When  the  foundations  of  the  house 
had  been  fixed,  and  its  walls  reared,  and  its  star- 
spangled  canopy  overhung,  and   its  floor  carpeted 


1/2  Geology  teaches  Miracles. 

with  soft  green,  and  fuel  and  water  laid  up  in  store- 
houses, then,  and  not  till  then,  did  man  appear, — 

"'the  master- work,  the  end 
Of  all  yet  done,  a  creature  who,  not  prone 
And  brute  as  other  creatures,  but  endued 
"With  sanctity  of  reason,  might  erect 
His  stature,  and  upright  with  front  serene 
Govern  the  rest,  self-knowing;  and  from  thence 
Magnanimous  to  correspond  with  heaven, 
But  grateful  to  acknowledge  whence  his  good 
Descends,  thither  with  heart,  and  voice,  and  eyes 
Directed  in  devotion,  to  adore 
And  worship  God  supreme,  who  made  him  chief 
Of  all  his  works.' — Milton. 


"Thus  the  Record  of  Moses  and  Nature's  Record 
bear  each  other  witness  in  every  particular.  The 
same  narrative  told  by  the  ruler  of  Israel  four  thou- 
sand years  ago  is  also  told  in  its  own  expressive 
language  by  the  very  earth  on  which  we  tread,  as  it 
were  '  graven  with  an  iron  pen  and  lead  in  the  rock 
forever.' " 

3.  The  researches  of  geology  also  afford  a  strong 
refutation  of  the  infidel  argument  against  miracles. 

It  has  been  alleged  by  Hume  and  others  that  a 
miracle  is  so  improbable — so  contrary  to  universal 
experience — that  no  amount  of  testimony  can  prove 
it.  But  geology  shows  plainly  that  the  course  of 
nature  is  liable  to  changes,  and  interruptions,  and 
manifestations  of  creative  power.  Through  the  meas- 
ureless ages  before  the  appearance  of  man  the  history 
of  creation  was  the  history  of  the  miraculous.     The 


Dr.  McCaiiL  on  Sacred  Scripture  Corroboration.    173 

impress  of  the  Creator's  fingers  has  been  left  upon 
the  rocks  of  the  pre- Adamite  earth,  and  the  leaves 
of  the  great  stone  book  are  as  full  of  instances  of 
miraculous  power  and  special  interpositions  as  is  the 
volume  of  Revelation.  He  who  believes  the  records 
of  the  earth's  crust  can  have  no  antecedent  proba- 
bility against  the  reception  of  the  external  evidences 
of  the  Scriptures. 

4.  Geology  also  presents  many  analogies  confirm- 
ing the  probability  of  the  predictions  of  Scripture 
respecting  the  final  overthrow  and  conflagration  of 
the  present  world.  The  Apostle  Peter  seems  to  have 
had  the  objections  of  modern  infidelity  before  him, 
and  answers  them  in  the  same  manner  as  geology 
teaches,  when  he  refers  to  the  scoffers  of  the  last 
days,  who  inquire,  "Where  is  the  promise  of  his 
coming?  for  since  the  fathers  fell  asleep,  all  things  con- 
tinue as  they  were  from  the  beginning  of  the  creation." 
He  tells  them  that  they  are  willingly  ignorant  of  the 
vast  changes  which  have  already  happened,  and  refers 
them  to  the  time  when  *'the  world  that  then  was, 
being  overflowed  with  water,  perished."  Nothing  is 
more  palpable  than  the  willing  ignorance  of  skepti- 
cism with  reference  to  past  changes. 

After  a  comparison  between  Scripture  and  geology. 
Dr.  McCaul  pertinently  remarks,  "Where  did  Moses 
get  all  this  knowledge?  How  was  it  that  he  worded 
his  rapid  sketch  with  such  scientific  accuracy?  If  he 
in  his  day  possessed  the  knowledge  which  genius  and 
science  have  attained  only  recently,  that  knowledge 
is  superhuman.  If  he  did  not  possess  this  knowledge, 

li)*- 


1 74    Criticism  and  Science  the  Handmaids  of  Faith. 

then  his  pen  must  have  been  guided  by  superhuman 
wisdom.  Faith  has,  therefore,  nothing  to  fear  from 
science.  So  far  the  records  of  nature,  fairly  studied 
and  rightly  interpreted,  have  proved  the  most  valua- 
ble and  satisfying  of  all  commentaries  upon  the 
statements  of  Scripture.  The  ages  required  for  geo- 
logical development,  the  infinity  of  worlds,  and  the 
immensity  of  space  revealed  by  astronomy,  illustrate, 
as  no  other  note  or  comment  has  ever  done,  the 
Scripture  doctrines  of  the  eternity,  the  omnipotence, 
the  wisdom  of  the  Creator.  Let  Science  then  pursue 
her  boundless  course,  and  multiply  her  discoveries  in 
the  heavens  and  in  the  earth.  The  believer  is  per- 
suaded that  they  will  only  show  more  clearly  that 
'the  words  of  the  Lord  are  pure  words,  as  silver  tried 
in  a  furnace  of  fire,  purified  seven  times.'  Let  Criti- 
cism also  continue  her  profoundly  interesting  and 
important  work.  Let  her  explore,  sift,  analyze,  scru- 
tinize, with  all  her  powers,  the  documents,  language, 
and  contents  of  Scripture,  and  honestly  tell  us  the 
results.  It  might  be  shown  that  even  the  hostile  and 
the  skeptical  have  involuntarily  helped  in  the  con- 
firmation of  the  Christian  verity,  and  that  even  their 
labors  cannot  be  neglected  without  loss.  But  we 
must  carefully  distinguish  between  the  speculations^ 
of  individuals  and  the  ascertained,  settled  results  of 
criticism.  The  theory  of  any  one  individual,  how- 
ever learned,  laborious,  and  genial,  is  only  an  opinion, 
perhaps  only  one  of  a  chaos  of  conflicting  opinions, 
where  sound  criticism  has  found  no  sure  footing. 
The  settled  results  are  those  which,  after  severe  test- 


The  Bible  pliilosophical.  175 

ing,  have  been  unanimously  accepted  by  the  com- 
petent, the  sober,  and  the  judicious.  The  former 
may  be  popular  for  awhile,  and  seem  to  shake  the 
faith;  but  they  are  gradually  overthrown  by  the 
progress  of  critical  investigation,  and  take  their  place 
in  the  record  of  things  that  were.  The  history  of 
the  last  hundred  years,  since  modern  criticism  took 
its  rise,  is  sufficient  to  quiet  the  believer's  mind  as  to 
the  ultimate  result.  It  tells  of  theory  after  theory 
propounded  by  the  critics  of  the  day,  first  applauded, 
then  controverted,  then  rejected,  just  like  the  philo- 
sophic systems  of  the  same  period,  and  yet  a  gradual 
advance  from  anti-Christian  hostility  to  an  effort  after 
scientific  impartiality,  and  a  large  amount  of  positive 
gain  for  the  right  interpretation  of  Scripture  and 
the  confirmation  of  the  old  Christian  belief.  Faith, 
therefore,  feels  no  more  fear  of  criticism  than  of 
science,  being  assured  that  neither  can  'do  anything 
against  the  truth,  but  for  the  truth.' " 

The  subject  of  the  present  chapter  has  exemplified 
that,  in  the  opinion  of  eminent  scientists,  and  by  a 
comparison  with  the  teachings  of  science  itself,  "the 
record  in  the  Bible  is  profoundly  philosophical  in 
the  scheme  of  creation  which  it  presents.  It  is  both 
true  and  Divine.  It  is  a  declaration  of  authorship, 
both  of  creation  and  the  Bible,  on  the  first  page  of 
the  sacred  volume.  There  can  be  no  real  conflict 
between  the  two  books  of  the  Great  Author.  Both 
are  revelations  made  by  Him  to  man,  — the  earlier 
telling  of  God-made  harmonies  coming  up  from  the 
deep  past,  and  rising  to  their  height  when  man  ap- 


iy6  Our  Relations  to  God  superlative. 

peared,  the  later  teaching  man's  relations  to  his 
Maker,  and  speaking  of  loftier  harmonies  in  the 
eternal  future."* 

Our  relations  to  God  concern  us  more  than  the 
curiosities  of  past  history.  To  know  the  truth  re- 
specting these  relations  is  more  important  to  us 
than  to  discover  a  new  world.  This  truth  science 
cannot  reveal  to  us :  "  The  depth  saith,  It  is  not  in 
me ;  and  the  sea  saith,  It  is  not  with  me.  It  cannot 
be  gotten  for  gold,  neither  shall  silver  be  weighed  for 
the  price  thereof  It  cannot  be  valued  with  the  gold 
of  Ophir,  with  the  precious  onyx,  or  the  sapphire." 
While  all  the  oracles  of  science  are  silent  on  this 
great  question,  revelation  proclaims,  **The  fear  of  the 
Lord,  that  is  wisdom;  and  to  depart  from  evil  is 
understanding." 

*  Dana's  Geology. 


CHAPTER    VIL 

THE  SPIRITUAL  NATURE  OF  THE  SOUL. 


"  We  are  willing  to  be  absent  from  the  body,  and  to  be  present  with 
the  Lord."  St.  Paul. 


(177) 


CONTENTS, 

Tlie  Scripture  Doctrine  that  Man  has  a  distinct  Spiritual  Nature—- 
Physiology  no  Refuge  for  Infidelity — The  Circle  of  Organic  Life 
implies  a  Vital  Germ — Histoiy  of  an  Atom  in  the  Service  of  Life 
— Theories  of  Life — Ancient  Theory  of  Harmony  revived  among 
the  Moderns — Amusing  Illustration — Theories  of  Sublimated  Mat- 
ter, or  Force,  as  Cause  of  Life — All  fail  to  explain  the  Phenomena 
— Yet  a  Vital  Principle  a  Necessity  to  Physiology — Inexplicable 
save  as  Result  of  the  Union  of  Matter  and  Spirit — Somatic  and 
Molecular  Life — Objection  from  the  Life  of  Animals  and  Vegeta- 
bles answered — The  Functions  of  the  Nerves  require  Mind — 
Mental  Operations  and  Mutual  Reactions  of  Body  and  Mind  in  an 
Outline  of  Physiological  Metaphysics. 


(178) 


CHAPTER    VIT. 

THE   SPIRITUAL  NATURE   OF   THE   SOUL. 

The  Bible  teaches  that  man  has  a  spiritual  nature 
distinct  from  the  body,  the  union  of  which  with  the 
body  is  the  cause  of  our  present  life.  It  teaches,  also, 
that  the  existence  and  conscious  faculties  of  the  soul 
continue  after  the  death  of  the  body.  In  other  words, 
it  represents  to  us  a  world  of  spiritual  existences, 
altogether  superior  to  matter,  yet  capable  of  acting 
upon  matter.  The  union  of  some  of  these  spirits 
with  material  bodies  forms  the  visible  world  of  man- 
kind. Death  is  referred  to  in  the  Scriptures  as  **  giving 
up  the  ghost,"  or  spirit;  and  very  many  passages  refer 
to  the  condition  of  disembodied  spirits  after  death. 
In  the  account  of  the  creation  of  Adam,  we  read  that 
"  the  Lord  God  formed  man  of  the  dust  of  the  ground, 
and  breathed  into  his  nostrils  the  breath  of  life,  and 
man  became  a  living  soul ;"  thus  making  an  evident 
distinction  between  the  body  and  the  soul.  In  vari- 
ous parts  of  the  Old  Testament  we  have  references 
to  disembodied  spirits,  and  various  enactments  in  the 
Mosaic  law  against  consulting  them  by  means  of 
divination  and  necromancy.  A  large  sect  of  the  Jews, 
the  Sadducees,  denied  the  separate  existence  of  spirits; 
but  in  our  Saviour's  famous  argument  with  them.  He 
showed  that  the  Old  Testament  clearly  taught  this 

(  179  ) 


i8o  Physiology  not  infideL 

doctrine  when  it  represented  God  as  saying,  "  I  am 
the  God  of  Abraham,  and  of  Isaac,  and  of  Jacob ;" 
adding,  "  for  he  is  not  the  God  of  the  dead,  but  of  the 
living,"  and  teaching  thereby  that  these  persons, 
although  their  bodies  had  been  long  dead,  were 
still  living.  In  accordance  with  this  doctrine,  the 
Evangelist  St.  Luke,  in  recording  the  resuscitation 
of  the  ruler's  daughter,  says,  "  her  spirit  came  again, 
and  she  arose  straightway,"  So,  likewise,  St.  Paul 
speaks  of  being  absent  froni  the  body,  yet  present 
with  the  Lord ;  and  St.  John,  in  describing  his  Apo- 
calyptic visions,  declares  that  he  saw  the  souls  of 
those  who  had  been  beheaded  for  their  testimony 
of  Jesus.  Many  other  passages  also  have  the  same 
import. 

In  examining  the  confirmation  by  modern  science 
of  these  scriptural  views,  or  the  scientific  evidence  of 
spiritual  existence,  it  will  be  necessary  to  inquire  into 
the  origin  of  life  as  exhibited  by  physiology.  This 
is  confessedly  a  difficult  question,  yet  one  of  great  im- 
portance, since,  driven  from  the  sciences  of  astronomy 
and  geology,  infidelity  has  sought  to  intrench  itself 
in  natural  history,  as  in  a  citadel,  and  physiologists 
of  no  mean  note  have  become  its  allies.  Yet  even 
here  the  ground  crumbles  beneath  its  feet;  and  the 
time  is  not  far  distant  when  a  man  having  a  scientific 
education  will  be  ashamed  to  avow  himself  an  infidel. 
In  despite  of  the  disingenuous  efforts  which  have 
been  made  to  secretly  weave  a  tissue  of  skeptical 
philosophy  from  scraps  and  shreds  of  physiology,  it 
will  be  seen  that  as  astronomy  and  geology  bear  testi- 


Circle  of  Organic  Life.  i8i 

mony  to  primitive  truth  as  revealed  in  the  Scriptures, 
so  likewise  does  the  science  which  treats  of  the  func- 
tions of  hving  beings. 

Napoleon  is  said  to  have  remarked  to  Dr.  Antom- 
marchi,  at  St.  Helena,  "You  physicians  are  unbe- 
lievers, because  you  cannot  find  the  soul  with  your 
dissecting-knife."  However  applicable  this  may  have 
been  to  physicians  of  that  day,  it  should  fail  of  appli- 
cation now,  since  the  microscope  has  become  to  the 
eye  of  the  educated  physician  and  naturalist  what 
the  dissecting-knife  is  to  his  hand.  With  this  instru- 
ment, science  has  been  able  to  detect  the  beginnings 
of  living  structure,  and  to  trace  the  fundamental  laws, 
at  least,  of  the  process  of  development.  Chemistry, 
also,  has  done  its  part  in  investigating  these  phe- 
nomena. From  these  sources  we  learn  the  mutual 
relation  as  well  as  the  individuality  of  all  natural 
things.  From  the  inorganic  world,  directly  or  indi- 
rectly, the  bodies  of  all  living  things  originate,  and 
to  it  they  all  return.  From  the  mineral  world  matter 
and  force  both  pass  to  the  vegetable  kingdom,  and 
the  matter  is  arranged  in  new  forms.  The  animal 
body,  after  using  the  material  thus  arranged,  restores 
both  the  matter  and  force  to  the  physical  world 
again.  In  this  manner  is  kept  up  the  wonderful  circle 
of  organic  life;  yet  in  both  animal  and  vegetable 
there  must  have  first  existed  an  animated  germ,  the 
product  of  a  previously  existing  organism,  which 
uses  the  physical  forces  to  draw  in  and  appropriate 
the  inorganic  elements,  combines  these  elements  into 
organic  compounds,  builds   up  an  organized  fabric, 

16 


I S2  History  of  an  Atom  vitalized. 

and  discards  finally  the  atoms  and  the  implements 
which  it  has  used. 

To  illustrate  this  subject,  and  at  the  same  time  to 
show  the  superiority  and  independence  of  the  vital 
principle,  as  it  is  called  (or.  organizing  spirit),  to  the 
matter  it  uses,  let  us  consider  the  history  of  a  single 
atom  of  matter  which  has  been  occupied  in  the 
service  of  life.  By  some  means — it  is  not  necessary 
to  inquire  how — it  has  become  mysteriously  endowed 
with  life.  Let  us  suppose  its  first  connection  with 
vitality  to  be  in  the  simplest  form  of  vegetable  exist- 
ence. It  is  now  part  of  a  simple  cell,  a  bladder-like 
form,  with  an  investing  membrane  inclosing  a  fluid 
substance,  and  containing  a  few  moving  granules.* 
This  cell  is  endowed  with  the  power  of  selecting 
nutriment  from  the  inorganic  matter  around  it  for  the 
support  of  its  own  existence;  and  after  a  time  it 
gives  birth  to  a  number  of  cells  like  itself  These 
are  inclosed  in  the  original  cell,  which  at  last  bursts 
and  sets  them  free.  After  thus  multiplying  itself,  its 
individual  life  is  at  an  end,  and  the  laws  of  inorganic 
matter  again  assert  their  supremacy, — a  supremacy 
resisted  and  controlled  during  the  vital  processes. 
That  same  particle  of  matter,  after  having  been  united 
with  and  laid  aside  by  a  mysterious  vital  principle  in 
a  simple  form  of  being,  may  be  appropriated  to  the 
use  of  a  higher  species.  It  may  form  the  material 
part  of  the  germ  of  a  noble  tree.  It  is  now  governed 
by  more  complicated  relationships.  Instead  of  origi- 
nating other  cells  altogether  like  itself,  its  progeny 
assume  special  forms  and  special   functions,  giving 

*  See  note,  p.  214. 


Theories  of  Life.  1 83 

rise  to  the  various  tissues  and  organs  of  the  plant. 
Long  before  the  death  of  the  tree,  this  same  original 
particle  may  have  passed  through  a  variety  of  changes, 
and  may  even  have  served  the  germs  of  numerous 
species,  both  of  animal  and  vegetable  life.  Now, 
whence  comes  this  wonderful  principle  of  life,  which 
thus  presses  into  its  service  the  atoms  and  laws  of 
the  material  universe?  Its  effects  are  too  palpable  to 
allow  a  denial  of  its  existence,  while  its  power  over 
matter  and  physical  forces  proves  its  distinction  from 
either.  Although  too  subtle  to  be  analyzed  by  the 
philosopher,  its  existence  is  suggestive  of  the  highest 
truths.  It  speaks  to  us  of  a  spiritual  world, — a  world 
to  which  the  material  universe  is  subservient,  and 
which  is  itself  unaffected  by  the  myriad  changes 
which  take  place  around  us. 

It  will  aid  us  in  the  investigation  of  this  subject  to 
make  a  brief  examination  of  some  of  the  principal 
theories  which  have  been  propounded  by  philosophers 
in  order  to  account  for  the  phenomena  of  life.  Some 
of  these  have  been  long  ago  exploded ;  yet  we  find 
them  occasionally  proposed  in  new  foi^ms  of  words, 
and  often  with  great  flourish  of  trumpets,  among  the 
skeptics  of  the  present  day. 

One  of  these  theories  may  be  thus  expressed  :  Life 
is  the  result  of  a  general  harmony  or  consent  of  action 
between  the  different  organs  of  the  body.  This  view 
was  first  proposed  by  Aristoxenus,  a  celebrated  Greek 
physician,  who  was  skilled  in  music,  and  who  gave 
the  name  of  Harmony  to  his  system,  from  his  attach- 
ment to  this  science.     It  was  at  one  time  quite  fash- 


184  Result  of  Organization. 

ionable  at  Rome  as  well  as  at  Athens.  In  Plato's 
Phaedo,  Socrates  is  represented  as  opposing  this 
theory,  which  had  been  urged  by  Simmias  against 
the  immortality  of  the  soul.  He  argues  that  the  soul 
existed  before  the  body,  as  shown  by  the  doctrine 
of  pre-existent  ideas, — the  idea  of  goodness  being 
necessarily  anterior  to  observation  of  things  good ; 
of  space  to  observation  of  things  in  space,  etc.  He 
shows  that  harmony  is  relative  according  as  the  parts 
may  agree  more  or  less,  but  we  cannot  say  there  is 
more  or  less  soul.  According  to  philosophy,  he 
teaches,  virtue  is  the  harmony  of  the  soul,  but  it 
would  be  absurd  to  speak  of  a  harmony  of  a  har- 
mony. '  Lastly,  he  shows  that  parts  of  the  soul  may 
be  opposed  to  each  other,  as  desire  and  reason,  which 
overthrows  the  idea  of  harmony.  Thus  even  a  pagan 
philosopher  could  argue  against  the  materialism  of  his 
age.  It  is  a  fatal  objection  to  this  theory  of  harmony 
that  it  evades  the  question  at  issue,  viz.,  the  princi- 
ple, or  power,  or  agent,  by  which  the  harmonious 
machine  has  been  developed  and  is  kept  in  perpetual 
play. 

Notwithstanding  the  forcible  arguments  against  it, 
this  theory  of  harmony,  under  one  form  or  another, 
has  been  frequently  repeated  down  to  the  present  day. 
Among  superficial  thinkers  it  is  expressed  in  the  for- 
mula. Life  is  the  result  of  organization.  Respecting 
this,  Coleridge  remarks,  "  The  position  seems  to  me 
little  less  strange  than  as  if  a  man  should  say  that 
building,  with  all  its  included  handicraft  of  plaster- 
ing, sawing,  planing,  etc.,  were  the  offspring  of  the 


The  Insane  Philosoplier.  igc 

house ;  and  that  the  mason  and  cai;penter  were  the 
result  of  a  suite  of  chambers." 

It  would  be  amusing,  if  it  were  not  sad,  to  witness 
the  artifice  with  which  skeptical  physiologists  endeavor 
to  evade  the  scriptural  doctrine  that  life  is  the  result  of 
the  union  of  something  spiritual  with  the  material  of 
which  the  body  is  composed.  Each  school  of  infidel- 
ity is  represented  by  writers  on  physiology,  and  their 
definitions  and  theories  are  equally  unsatisfactory. 
Many  of  these  theories  recall  to  mind  the  amusing 
illustration  of  Prof  Schleiden.  He  says,  "  Some  years 
ago  I  was  very  intimate  with  the  directing  physician 
of  a  large  lunatic-asylum,  and  I  used  industriously  to 
avail  myself  of  the  liberty  I  thus  obtained  to  visit  at 
will  the  house  and  its  inhabitants.  One  morning  I 
entered  the  room  of  a  madman  whose  constantly 
varying  hallucinations  especially  interested  me.  I 
found  him  crouching  down  by  the  stove,  watching 
with  close  attention  a  saucepan,  the  contents  of  which 
he  was  carefully  stirring.  At  the  noise  of  my  en- 
trance he  turned  round,  and,  with  a  face  of  the  great- 
est importance,  whispered,  *  Hush,  hush !  don't  dis- 
turb my  little  pigs;  they  will  be  ready  directly.'  Full 
of  curiosity  to  know  whither  his  diseased  imagination 
had  now  led  him,  I  approached  nearer.  *  You  see,' 
said  he,  with  the  mysterious  expression  of  an  alche- 
mist, '  here  I  have  black-puddings,  pigs'  bones,  and 
bristles  in  the  saucepan, — everything  that  is  neces- 
sary ;  we  only  want  the  vital  warmth,  and  the  young 
pig  will  be  ready  made  again.'  Laughable  as  this 
circumstance  appeared  to  me  at  the  time,  it  has  often 


1 86  Vai?i  Definitions  of  Life.    . 

recurred  to  me^  since  in  seriousness,  when  I  have  re- 
flected on  certain  errors  in  science ;  and  if  the  mere 
form  of  the  delusion  were  the  criterion  of  sanity  or 
insanity,  even  many  distinguished  naturahsts  of  our 
time  would  have  to  share  the  narrow  cell  of  my  un- 
fortunate Mahlberg."* 

Bichat  defined  life  as  **  the  sum  of  the  functions  by 
which  death  is  resisted ;"  which  is  merely  saying  that 
life  and  death  are  opposite  states.  An  eminent  Eng- 
lish physiologist,  Dr.  Carpenter,  says,  "By  the  term 
life,  we  most  appropriately  designate  the  state  or  con- 
dition of  a  being  that  exhibits  vital  actions," — a  defi- 
nition no  better  than  that  of  Bichat,  since  it  is  only 
another  mode  of  saying  that  life  is  a  state  of  living. 
Coleridge  defined  life  as  "the  principle  of  individua- 
tion." This  is  synonymous  with  separate  existence, 
and  applies  to  stones  and  metals  as  well  as  to  the  or- 
ganic world.  All  such  definitions  evade,  rather  than 
discuss,  the  question. 

Another  theory  supposes  some  exquisitely  subtle 
gas  or  aura — some  fine,  invisible  fluid,  sublimed  in 
the  recesses  of  Nature's  laboratory — to  be  the  cause 
of  life.  This  formed  a  part  of  the  old  Epicurean  phi- 
losophy, and,  like  the  system  of  harmony  referred  to, 
exerted  an  influence  over  the  opinions  of  subsequent 
ages.  What  this  fluid,  or  gas,  or  aura  could  be,  has 
given  rise  to  much  speculation.  The  researches  of 
Dr.  Black  respecting  caloric,  or  heat,  caused  some  to 
regard  it  as  the  agent :  hence  the  aphorism,  "  Heat  is 

*  Poetry  of  the  Vegetable  World. 


Correlation  of  Forces.  i  ^y 

life,  cold  is  death."  The  discovery  of  oxygen,  how- 
ever, by  Priestley  and  Lavoisier,  and  the  indispensable 
part  it  performs  in  respiration  and  other  functions,  led 
many  to  consider  it  as  the  vivifying  principle,  and 
heat  as  its  attendant.*  Then  came  the  discovery  of 
galvanism,  and  its  similarity  to  nervous  influence ;  and 
immediately  physiologists  were  ready  to  cry,  "  Eu- 
reka!" I  have  found  it!  But  subsequent  investigations 
showed  that  although  galvanism  and  nerve-force  are 
similar  in  some  respects,  they  are  not  identical. 

The  influence  of  this  theory  has  continued  to  the 
present  time,  especially  among  the  mesmerists,  and 
in  popular  literature,  while  a  modification  of  it  finds 
favor  among  the  learned,  under  the  name  of  the  "  cor- 
relation of  forces."  This  latter  view  discards  the  idea 
of  a  fluid,  gas,  or  aura,  but  substitutes  the  term 
"force."  It  regards  light,  heat,  electricity,  affinity, 
motion,  etc.  as  physical  forces,  mutually  related,  and 
actually  convertible  into  each  other.  Some  have 
endeavored  to  show  the  applicability  of  this  theory 
to  the  phenomena  of  life,  and  try  to  explain  intellect 
and  morals,  philosophy  and  history,  by  its  means. 
The  attempt  is  made  to  prove  that  all  the  varied 
forces  manifested  in  a  living  being,  "mechanical, 
thermal,  luminous,  electric,  chemical,  nervous,  sen- 
sory, emotional,  and  intellectual,"  are  perfectly  co- 
ordinated; and  that  physical  activities  and  intellectual 
operations  are  so  directly  correlated  that  "no  idea  or 
feeling  can  arise  save  as  the  result  of  some  physical 

*  Good's  Book  of  Nature. 


1 88  The  Question  unsolved  thus. 

force  expended  in  producing  it."  This  principle  if 
even  applied  to  the  progress  of  civilization  and  the 
statistics  of  crime,  and  Mr.  Herbert  Spencer  has  made 
it  the  foundation  of  his  new  system  of  philosophy. 
Stripped  of  its  parade  and  tinsel,  however,  this  theory 
is  nothing  but  the  old  materialistic  pantheism  revived. 
It  is  the  desperate  effort  of  infidelity  to  press  into  its 
service  the  researches  of  modern  physiology,  as  was 
tried  to  be  done  with  astronomy  and  geology;  but, 
like  these  latter  sciences,  physiology  refuses  an  alli- 
ance with  skepticism,  and  points  to  a  Creator  and  a 
spiritual  world. 

Let  the  honest  skeptic  inquire.  Does  the  theory 
referred  to  explain  what  is  life?  Does  it  show  us 
why  some  particles  of  matter  become  organized  and 
others  do  not?  Does  it  make  plain  why  one  cell 
develops  a  vegetable  and  another  an  animal,  no  per- 
ceptible difference  being  between  them,  and  the  cir- 
cumstances of  each  being  the  same,  except  origination 
from  different  parentage?  Can  these  philosophers 
tell  us  what  they  mean  by  "physical  force"?  Is  it 
matter?  Or  is  it  spiritual  power  or  energy  superadded 
to  matter?  Why  is  it  not  common  to  all  matter,  and 
equally  effective  upon  all  ?  An  answer  to  these 
questions  would  cut  the  Gordian  knot.  While  science 
stands  on  the  very  confines  of  a  spiritual  world,  and 
points  across  the  boundary,  why  should  we  fear  to 
look  in  that  direction,  or  spurn  the  guidance  of  that 
Faith  which  would  lead  us  to  higher  truths? 

The  doctrine  of  the  physical  origin  of  life  is  put 
into  popular  form  in  some  of  the  modern  treatisej 


Life  Matter's  Master.  189 

on  physiology  in  such  a  way  that  a  student  may 
easily  be  led  astray;  the  easier,  perhaps,  because 
their  writers  generally  disclaim  being  materialists. 
Yet  they  teach  that  life  is  the  **  manifestation  of 
physical  influences,"  and  that  individual  and  race 
development  "depends  on  physical  circumstances,'* 
and  fancifully  trace  an  analogy  between  the  develop- 
ment of  an  individual  and  the  progress  of  history. 
The  uningenuous  flings  at  the  doctrine  of  Provi- 
dence, the  rhetorical  pomposity  with  which  the  term 
"law"  is  substituted  for  the  Deity,  and  the  argu- 
ments for  what  Newton  called  "blind  metaphysical 
necessity,"  show  the  materialistic  tendencies  of  such 
works. 

The  researches  of  scientific  workers,  rather  than 
theorists,  resi>ecting  the  primitive  cell,  from  which 
all  other  parts  of  an  organized  being  are  developed, 
point,  as  we  have  seen,  to  something  distinct  from  and 
superior  to  matter ;  controlling,  selecting,  moulding, 
assimilating,  and  discarding  matter,  for  its  own  pur- 
poses, and  after  its  own  peculiar  mode  (or  law)  of 
being.  That  must  be  a  real  existence  which  mani- 
fests such  palpable  effects  of  its  presence.  Its  power 
of  control  over  matter  and  physical  laws  proves  its 
superiority  over,  and  its  distinction  from,  matter. 
Life  is  matter's  master,  not  its  slave.  Life  is  a  work- 
man;  a  builder;  a  chemist;  and  each  organized 
being  has  its  own  appropriate  life,  the  result  of  the 
anion  of  the  spiritual  and  the  material  in  itself 

Physiologists  usually  repudiate  the  term  "vital 
principle,"  or  "  organic  agent,"  as  tending  to  check 


190  A    Vital  Age?it  true, ' 

the  spirit  of  philosophic  inquiry;  but  this  is  by  nc 
means  a  necessary  result.  It  is  plainly  impossible  to 
study  the  functions  of  living  beings  without  regard- 
ing them  as  dependent  on  something  which  pro- 
duced and  maintains  life.  This  *'  vital  principle,"  or 
"principle  of  organization,"  or  "plastic  power,"  is  as 
necessary  to  physiology  as  "light"  is  to  optics,  or 
"gravitation"  to  natural  philosophy.  Whether  this 
plastic  power  be  an  agent,  a  condition  of  things,  the 
effect  of  antecedent  physical  influences,  or  the  result 
of  the  union  of  matter  and  spirit,  is  a  question  about 
which  students  of  nature  may  differ  widely,  according 
to  their  metaphysical  or  religious  proclivities.  It  is 
a  question  rather  theological  or  philosophical  than 
physiological,  and  the  most  elaborate  treatises  on  the 
functions  of  organized  beings  might  ignore  it  alto- 
gether, as  works  on  natural  philosophy  decline  to 
investigate  the  cause  of  gravity,  etc.,  without  being 
subject  to  the  charge  of  incompleteness.  Yet  the 
interest,  so  strongly  felt,  which  attaches  itself  to  the 
question  of  our  own  origin,  is  the  charm  which  com- 
pels us  to  speculate,  whether  we  confine  our  specula- 
tions within  the  boundaries  of  revealed  truth,  or  in 
the  pride  of  scientific  pretension  ignore  the  guidance 
of  faith. 

The  existence  of  a  living  cell  seems  positive  proot 
of  a  "  force,"  "  power,"  "  principle,"  or  "  agent,"  differ- 
ing from  the  forces  or  agencies  which  we  call  phys- 
ical, and  to  which  physical  conditions  and  materials 
are  subservient.  Yet  we  do  not  consider  life  to  be 
synonymous  with  the  spiritual  agent  which  produces 


Somatic  and  Molecular  Life  and  Death.     191 

it.     Life  is  a  condition,  a  result,  of  the  action  of  im- 
material agents  upon  unorganized  matter. 

Life  is  propagated  by  means  of  a  previously  exist- 
ing organism.  As  flame  communicates  the  power 
of  combustion  from  one  torch  to  another,  so  life  is 
transmitted  from  cell  to  cell,  or  from  atom  to  atom. 
In  every  complex  organized  body,  however,  there  is 
a  somatic  vitality,  or  life  of  the  organism,  which  is 
independent  of  cell-life,  which  gives  origin  to  cell's, 
and  to  which  the  life  and  death  of  myriads  of  cells 
are  necessary.  The  functions  of  living  beings  depend 
upon  molecular  changes,  or  the  constant  destruction 
and  renewal  of  the  ultimate  cells  of  which  their  tissues 
are  composed.  Yet  physiology  teaches  that  somatic 
death  is  distinct  from  molecular  death.  In  some 
instances,  as  in  death  from  pure  "  old  age,"  from  a 
powerful  electric  shock,  or  from  certain  poisons,  etc., 
somatic  and  molecular  death  may  be  simultaneous ; 
yet  in  other  and  perhaps  the  majority  of  instances, 
molecular  life  may  be  maintained  for  a  brief  period 
apart  from  the  organism,  or  continue  for  some  time 
after  the  elemental  vital  spark  has  fled.  Thus,  the 
blood-disks  retain  their  individual  vitality  for  some 
time  after  removal  from  the  body;  severed  fingers, 
etc.  have  occasionally  adhered  to  and  reunited  with 
the  body ;  the  poison  of  a  rattlesnake  continues  to 
be  secreted  after  death  ;*  hair  continues  to  grow 
upon  a  corpse,  etc.  Somatic  death  is  usually  con- 
sidered to  be  the  result  of  some  physical  changes, — 

*  Carpenter's  General  and  Comparative  Physiology. 


192  Existence  depends  on  God. 

some  molecular  death  which  interrupts  the  organic 
functions.  These  changes,  likewise,  are  regarded  as 
wholly  physical  in  their  origin.  Yet  the  fact  that 
molecular  or  somatic  death,  or  both,  may  result  from 
a  violent  mental  emotion,  shows  plainly  the  depend- 
ence of  life  upon  the  immaterial  or  spiritual  part  01 
the  organism  as  well  as  upon  its  material  part.  It  is 
a(imitted,  also,  by  the  best  physiologists  that  cases 
of  sudden  death  have  occurred  without  any  percepti- 
ble structural  cause  or  disorganization.* 

A  natural  objection  against  the  consideration  that 
life  results  from  the  union  of  matter  and  spirit,  arises 
from  the  fact  that  vegetables,  as  well  as  the  lower 
tribes  of  animals,  live  and  perform  organic  functions 
equally  with  ourselves.  But  such  an  objection  is  of 
little  weight  against  well-ascertained  facts.  We  know 
very  little  of  the  spiritual  world,  but  analogy  suggests 
that  there  is  as  much  variety  in  it  as  in  the  material 
universe.  Existence,  either  spiritual  or  material,  de- 
pends wholly  upon  the  will  of  the  Creator,  and  it  is 
by  no  means  inconceivable  that  the  animating  spirits  of 
the  lower  animals,  or  of  vegetables,  after  having  served 
the  Divine  purpose  in  the  plan  of  creation,  may  pass 
into  annihilation.  The  soul  of  man  has  endowments 
evidently  surpassing  all  other  inhabitants  of  this  world, 
He  has  not  only  consciousness,  volition,  and  a  knowl- 
edge of  relations,  the  same  in  kind  but  greater  in 
degree  than  other  animals,  but  he  is  also  capable  of 
analyzing  his  own  mind,  and  of  knowing  his  relation 

*■  Carpenter's  General  and  Con^.parative  Physiology. 


Future  Development  not  pantheistic.  193 

to  the  Creator  of  all.  Revelation  informs  us  that 
man  is  endowed  also  with  immortality  of  being,  alto- 
gether independent  of  the  organization  which  is  the 
result  of  his  vitality. 

If  it  be  urged  that  the  very  idea  of  the  spiritual 
implies  indivisibility  and  indestructibility,  in  opposi- 
tion to  the  ceaseless  flow  and  change  of  visible  and 
material  things,  we  reply  that  the  view  of  life  which 
we  have  taken  by  no  means  necessitates  the  idea  of 
the  annihilation  of  the  animating  spirit ;  the  question 
of  annihilation  must  be  determined  on  other  than 
physiological  grounds.  Yet  indestructibility  pre- 
cludes not  the  idea  of  change.  Our  mental  habits 
and  powers  improve  or  change  from  day  to  day. 
Applying  this  thought  to  the  condition  of  the  ani- 
mated existences  which  are  lower  in  the  scale  of 
endowments  than  man,  it  will  be  plain  that  the  un 
folding  ages  of  eternit)^  will  afford  room  enough  for 
the  development  of  all.  The  same  organic  vitality 
produces  the  ^%%,  the  worm,  the  chrysalis,  the  butter- 
fly. And  who  but  the  Creator  shall  say  to  the  vital- 
izing spirit,  "  Thus  far  shalt  thou  come,  and  no  farther"  ? 
This  thought  is  very  different  from  the  theory  of  de- 
velopment put  forth  by  infidelity,  since  it  admits  a 
specific  creation  for  each  individual,  a  personal  Crea- 
tor, and  a  perso'nal  identity  to  each  animated  being. 

The  more  refined  pantheists  regard  "plants  and 
animals  as  antagonistic  and  mutually-deviating  mani- 
festations of  a  general  natural  vitality,"  or  force,  corre- 
lated with  and  transformable  into  physical  conditions. 
It  has  been  thus  poetically  expressed  by  an  eminent 

17 


194  Pantheistic   View  of  Vegetable  Life. 

Geriran  botanist:  "The  key  to  the  mystery  of  vege- 
table life  lies  in  the  primitively-similar  foundation  of 
the  animal  and  vegetable  kingdom,  from  which  indeed 
both  have  sprung,  but  have  branched  off  in  different 
directions.  The  animal  nature  is  in  the  plant  as  it 
were  caged,  and  this  imprisonment  is  expressed 
throughout  its  entire  existence,  in  its  formation,  and 
relation  to  the  animal  kingdom.  They  are  the  tears 
of  Cypria,  the  blood  of  Hyacinth,  which  in  the  form 
and  color  of  the  flower  whisper  to  us  a  melancholy 
strain.  The  complaining  Dryad  expresses  the  whole 
soul  of  the  plant.  Thus  in  melancholy  seclusion 
'does  the  plant  achieve  its  life-destiny.  But  the  fet- 
tered and  slumbering  world-spirit,  which  here  scarce 
dares  breathe,  is  the  same  which  in  animals  bursts 
its  bonds  forever,  and,  lastly,  sings  its  hallelujah  in 
man.  ^ 

This  poetic  pantheism  is  less  reasonable  and  no 
more  conceivable  than  the  view  which  allows  a  real 
identity  to  each  spiritual  existence,  with  the  capacity 
of  indefinite  improvement  throughout  the  ages  to 
come. 

This  latter  view  receives  some  confirmation  from 
Romans,  viii.  19-23  ;t  a  passage  which  many  divines 

*  Unger's  Botanical  Letters.  * 

I "  For  the  earnest  expectation  of  the  creature  waiteth  for  the  mani- 
festation of  the  sons  of  God.  For  the  creature  was  made  sul  ject  to 
vanity,  not  willingly,  but  by  i:eason  of  him  who  hath  subjected  the 
same  in  hope,  because  the  creature  itself  also  shall  be  delivered 
from  the  bondage  of  corruption  into  the  glorious  liberty  of  the  chil- 
dren of  God.  For  we  know  that  the  whole  creation  groaneth  and 
travaileth  in  pain  together  until  now.    And  not  only  they,  but  ourselves 


Volition  and  Sensation  imply  a  Soul.        193 

have  understood  as  referring  to  the  future  state  of  the 
brute  creation;  as  well  as  from  those  numerous  pas- 
sages which  speak  of  the  resurrection  of  the  human 
body  in  a  different,  more  glorious,  and  spiritual  con- 
dition. 

Thus  far  we  have  considered  the  single  topic  of  the 
origin  of  life,  as  confirmatory  of  man's  spiritual  na- 
ture; there  are,  however,  other  themes  of  physiology 
which  point  as  clearly  to  the  same  truth.  The  func- 
tions of  the  nervous  system — or  sensation  and  vol- 
untary motion — cannot  be  explained  by  any  theory 
of  materialism  whatever.  The  nerve-structure  only 
implies  a  capability  of  reception  or  transmission.  A 
second  factor  is  necessary  to  the  product  of  sensation; 
and  that  factor  is  the  immaterial  soul.  The  actions 
of  the  nervous  system,  also,  upon  the  other  organs 
and  tissues  of  the  body,  as  in  voluntary  motion, 
require  for  their  explanation  an  agent  as  different 
from  the  body  as  are  the  sources  of  light  and  sound; 
and  that  agent  is  the  soul.  It  is  true  that  the  active 
exertion  of  the  powers  o(  the  soul  requires  a  corre- 
sponding health  in  the  bodily  organs,  since  the  most 
accomplished  artisan  cannot  exhibit  his  full  powers 
with  imperfect  tools  and  materials;  yet  as  the  injury 
or  destruction  of  the  implement  is  no  proof  of  the 
annihilation  of  the  artisan,  so  the  injury  or  destruc- 
tion of  the  body  may  not  affect  the  soul. 

The  union  of  body  and  mind  is  a  subject  of  such 

also,  which  have  the  first-fruits  of  the  Spirit,  even  tve  ourselves  gronn 
within  ourselves,  waiting  for  the  adoption,  to  wit,  the  redemption  of 
the  body." 


196  General  Sensation, 

importance  and  interest  that  a  brief  sketch  of  the 
various  affections  of  the  mind  and  their  influence  upon 
the  body,  with  the  reciprocal  action  of  the  body  upon 
the  mind,  will  not  be  inappropriate  here.  It  will  serve 
both  as  proof  and  illustration  of  the  statement  that 
mental  phenomena  can  only  be  explained  by  faith  in 
spiritual  existence.  The  real  basis  of  mental  science 
is  an  enlightened  physiology.  A  true  psychology  is 
impossible  elsewhere. 

We  have  already  considered  vitality  as  arising  from 
the  union  of  spirit  and  matter  and  giving  rise  to  a 
peculiar  structure, — the  organic  cell, — with  peculiar 
laws  and  special  affinities.  We  now  examine  the 
affections  and  special  powers  of  living  beings  as  seen 
in  our  own  species,  beginning  with  the  most  general 
and  elementary  affections  of  animal  life,  and  rising  in 
the  scale  of  special  endowments  to  the  highest  func- 
tions of  our  nature. 

The  earliest  sign  of  individuality  is  general,  corpo- 
real sensation.  This  is  previous  to  the  senses,  and 
independent  of  the  nervous  system.  It  manifests 
itself  in  animals  without  nerves,  as  the  polypi,  etc., 
and  seems  to  be  a  necessary  attribute  of  animal  life. 
Yet  this  most  primitive  and  most  clearly  innate  faculty 
implies  mind,  for  by  it  we  know  that  our  body  is  our 
body.  Our  corporeal  structure  is  an  object  of  which 
the  mind  takes  cognizance.  The  presence  of  this 
sensitivity  is  a  proof  of  the  existence  of  something 
distinct  from  the  body. 

In  addition  to  general  sensitivity,  the  mind  takes 
cognizance  of  certain  physical  conditions  within  the 


Mind  not  dependent  on  Brain.  197 

body,  as  tonicity,  buoyancy,  languor,  hunger,  thirst, 
warmth,  cold,  etc.  To  this  knowledge  physiologists 
have  given  the  name  of  common  sensation,  or  ccenaes- 
thesis.  It  is  conveyed  from  the  v.anous  parts  of 
the  body,  and  especially  from  the  orgaric  of  vegeta- 
tive or  organic  life,  by  the  sympathetic  or  ganglionic 
system  of  nerves.  We  shall  see  hereafter  how,  by 
means  of  this  special  apparatus,  the  various  affections 
of  the  mind  act  upon  the  organic  functions,  and  how 
the.se  in  turn  act  upon  the  mind. 

Another  affection  of  the  mind  is  called  sensation, 
or  special  sense,  which  is  caused  by  an  impression  on 
certain  parts  of  the  nervous  system,  which  are  hence 
called  sensitive.  For  sensation  tv/o  things  are  neces- 
sary,— an  impressible  state  of  the  sensitive  organs,  and 
a  perception  by  the  mind.  The  nervous  organs  per- 
taining to  sensation  are  contained  in  what  is  called  the 
cerebro- spinal  system,  consisting  of  the  cerebral  hemi- 
spheres, or  front  brain,  which  is  the  bodily  source  of 
voluntary  movement;  the  cerebellum,  or  back  brain, 
for  adjusting  and  combining  voluntary  motions  ;  the 
sensory  ganglia,  or  mesocephalon,  in  immediate  con- 
nection with  the  organs  of  special  sense,  as  the  eye, 
ear,  etc. ;  the  medulla  oblongata,  a  ganglionic  centre 
for  respiration  and  deglutition ;  and  the  spinal  cord, 
with  its  accompanying  nerves. 

Notwithstanding  the  importance  of  continuously 
healthy  nerve-structure  for  the  manifestation  of  men- 
tal phenomena,  the  mind  is  not  so  entirely  dependent 
on  the  brain  as  is  generally  supposed.  According  to 
Morgagni  and  Haller,  every  part  of  the  brain  ha5 
17* 


198  Voluntary  Motions. 

been,  in  one  instance  or  another,  destroyed  or  disor^ 
ganized,  without  affecting  what  have  been  thought  to 
be  the  corresponding  intellectual  powers.  Abercrom- 
bie  tells  us  of  a  lady  in  whom  one-half  of  the  brain 
was  disorganized,  who  retained,  notwithstanding,  all 
her  faculties  to  the  last,  except  that  there  was  an  im- 
perfection of  vision.  A  man,  mentioned  by  Dr.  Far- 
rier, lost  no  portion  of  his  faculties  till  his  death,  which 
was  sudden ;  but,  on  examination,  the  whole  right 
hemisphere  was  found  to  be  destroyed  by  suppuration. 
A  patient  of  Dr.  Kingdon,  of  Stratton,  Cornwall,  was 
kicked  by  a  horse.  The  whole  of  the  brain  on  one  side 
was  taken  out,  and  a  silver  false  skull  put  on.  Yet  he 
recovered,  and  his  intellect  was  in  no  respect  disor- 
dered by  the  accident.  Dr.  Cowan  relates  two  cases 
of  cancer  of  the  brain,  of  a  very  extensive  character, 
which  produced  no  intellectual  disturbance.  In  the 
attack  on  the  Redan,  at  Sebastopol,  a  young  soldier 
was  shot  through  the  left  parietal  bone  by  a  Minie 
bullet.  The  brain  protruded  through  the  orifice  in 
the  skull,  and  the  surgeon  thrust  his  finger  to  its  full 
length  within  the  brain  to  find  the  bullet  and  the 
portion  of  skull  which  it  had  carried  inward.  Neither 
could  be  discovered.  Yet  the  wound  healed,  and  the 
man  continued  lively  and  intelligent*  Many  other 
instances  may  be  found  among  the  curiosities  of 
medical  literature. 

Many  of  the  motions  connected  with  the  nervous 
cords  and  ganglia  are  altogether  reflex  and  automatic. 


*  Creation's  Testimony  to  its  God,  by  Rev.  T.  Rajjg. 


Consciousness.  199 

with  which  the  mind  has  nothing  to  do;  yet  many 
other  motions  have  their  origin  in  the  mind,  and  are 
called  voluntary.  The  sensitive  nerves  also  are  in- 
fluential, not  upon  the  brain-structure  merely,  which 
is  inert,  but  upon  the  mind.  Yet  there  is  no  constant 
relation  between  the  integrity  of  mind  and  body: 
"  The  mind  is  sometimes  an  agonizing  sufferer  while 
the  body  is  in  perfect  health,  and  only  by  degrees, 
by  its  continued  action  on  the  nervous  system,  brings 
the  bodily  organs  into  a  sympathetic  state.  And 
though  the  body  cannot  long  resist  the  influence  of 
mental  disease,  the  mind  can  effectually  resist  the 
depressing  influence  of  bodily  disease  or  bodily  pain, 
even  to  the  period  of  their  separation.  Paralysis  has 
unnerved  and  unstrung  the  whole  system  and  yet 
the  mind  has  remained  uninjured.  Such  was  the  case 
with  Talleyrand,  who,  with  a  body  like  a  living  tomb, 
retained  his  mental  faculties  unimpaired.  Nor  need 
I  more  than  allude  to  the  rejoicing  moments  of  the 
dying  Christian,  or  the  triumphs  of  the  martyr  at  the 
stake,  to  show  how  the  mind  can  continue  in  calm 
serenity  while  the  body  is  enduring  the  most  ex- 
cruciating torments  or  losing  at  once  its  vitality  and 
power."* 

Consciousness  is  the  knowledge  which  the  mind 
has  of  its  own  operations.  In  some  diseased  con- 
ditions, as  in  a  swoon  or  apoplexy,  there  is  uncon- 
sciousness, as  well  as  the  suspension  of  relations  to 
the  external  world;  but  it  would  be  just  as  reasonable 

*  Creation's  Testimony  to  its  God,  by  Rev.  T.  Ragg. 


200  Ideas. — Feeling.  . 

to  suppose  that  the  body  was  dead,  because  uncon- 
scious, as  that  the  soul  had  ceased  to  exist.  **That 
we  cannot  conceive  how  an  immaterial  substance, 
with  whose  real  essence  we  are  totally  unacquainted, 
can  exist,  while  all  those  powers  and  properties  are 
apparently  suspended  in  their  operation,  through 
the  activity  of  which  we  can  alone  be  certified  of  its 
existence,  I  am  ready  to  admit;  but  it  never  ought 
to  be  forgotten  that  our  inability  to  comprehend  is 
no  argument  either  against  theory  or  fact."* 

Upon  our  consciousness  the  nerves  which  connect 
us  with  the  external  world  are  influential,  and  all  the 
mental  faculties  are  exercised  in  connection  with  it 
when  the  mind  takes  cognizance  of  its  own  operations. 
In  the  sphere  of  consciousness  are  produced  what 
are  called  ideas,  by  which  we  mean,  in  a  general 
sense,  anything  present  to  the  mind  as  an  object  of 
thought,  whether  present  really  or  representatively. 
Some  ideas  are  related  to  experience,  as  the  principles 
of  mathematics,  notions  of  figure,  extension,  number, 
time,  and  space.  Others  are  independent  of  sensible 
representation,  as  the  ideas  of  good  and  evil,  just  and 
unjust,  true  and  false,  etc. 

In  addition  to  ideas,  connected  with  consciousness, 
we  find  feeling,  under  which  term  we  may  include 
sensations  (already  referred  to),  sentiments,  and  emo- 
tions. When  we  say  we  feel  heat  or  cold,  etc.,  we 
refer  to  sensation ;  when  we  speak  of  feelings  of  the 
sublime  and  beautiful,  of  esteem  and  gratitude,  etc., 

*  Drew  on  the  Immateriality  and  Immortality  of  the  Soul 


Obscure  Impressions.  201 

we  refer  to  sentiments;  and  when  we  refer  to  feelings 
of  pleasure  or  pain,  we  refer  to  emotions.  The  term 
feeling  is  also  used  sometimes  as  analogous  to  con- 
sciousness or  to  belief;  but  it  always  has  reference  to 
the  mind  or  spiritual  nature.  Thus,  we  say  of  a  thing, 
"  I  know  it  to  be  true,  because  I  feel,  and  cannot  but 
feel,  it  to  be  so,"  or  "because  I  believe,  and  cannot 
but  believe  it."  If  asked  how  I  know  that  I  thus 
feel  or  believe,  I  can  make  no  better  answer  than  "I 
believe  that  I  feel,"  or  "because  I  feel  that  I  believe." 
In  other  words,  I  am  conscious  of  it. 

In  the  sphere  of  personal  consciousness,  in  addition 
to  feeling  and  ideas,  we  may  name  certain  obscure 
impressions,  of  which  we  may  be  said  to  be  half  con- 
scious. They  are  either  such  as  proceed  from  the 
sympathetic  or  vegetative  system  of  nerves,  the  con- 
nection of  which  with  the  brain  is  more  or  less  inter- 
rupted, or  such  as  the  mind  does  not  bestow  that 
attention  upon  which  is  necessary  for  clear  perception. 
By  means  of  these  obscure  impressions  or  percep- 
tions the  soul  influences  and  governs  the  functions 
of  vegetative  life,  as  digestion,  circulation,  respiration, 
secretion,  etc.  In  the  opposite  direction  they  are  also 
active  in  all  the  mental  operations,  giving  us  results 
without  a  consciousness  of  the  successive  steps 
employed.  In  habitual  voluntary  motions,  such  as 
playing  on  the  piano,  etc.,  they  set  the  proper  muscles 
in  action  without  directing  the  mind  to  each.  In 
sleep,  dreaming,  and  insanity  they  play  a  very  con- 
spicuous part,  and  altogether  they  make  up  that 
which  we  call  the  disposition  or  temper  of  a  man.  Thus 


202  Influence  of  Mind  on  Body, 

the  repletion  and  activity  of  the  blood-vessels  stimu- 
late to  activity  the  nervous  filaments  which  accom- 
pany them,  and  heighten  those  mental  reactions  which 
manifest  themselves  in  cheerfulness  and  courage,  and 
in  a  higher  degree  in  arrogance;  while  a  relaxed  con- 
dition of  the  vessels  produces  a  depressing  effect. 
The  exciting  and  depressing  influence  of  diseases. 
and  of  alimentary  and  medicinal  substances,  may  be 
thus  accounted  for. 

The  phrenic  and  solar  foci  of  the  sympathetic 
nerve  are  the  media  through  which  the  functions  of 
digestion,  assimilation,  and  secretion  affect  the  mind. 
We  all  know  how  these  act  on  the  temper.  Many  a 
man  may  attribute  his  misfortunes  to  the  intestines 
of  another.  How  peevish,  also,  and  ill-humored, 
and  hypochondriac  are  dyspeptics!  Enteric  fever 
also  operates  severely  upon  the  brain.  Yet  many 
disorganizations  of  this  system  scarcely  affect  the 
mind,  while  the  smallest  changes  will  sometimes 
deeply  disorder  it;  showing  how  delicate  and  unde- 
fined is  the  union. 

Having  thus  considered  the  effects  of  various 
physical  conditions  of  the  body  upon  the  mind,  let 
us  also  glance  at  the  influence  of  the  emotions  and 
passions  of  the  mind  upon  the  body.  The  influence 
of  these  latter  upon  the  mind  itself  is  a  worthy  study, 
but  would  lead  us  too  far  from  the  subject  in  hand. 
We  know  how  intellectual  feelings  may  rise  to  en- 
thusiasm and  (as  in  Archimedes)  absorb  the  whole 
nervous  action.  On  the  other  side,  it  may  sink  to 
that  despair  which  at  length  seizes  the  skeptic  when 


Influence  of  Mental  Passions.  203 

not  a  ray  of  truth  sheds  a  gleam  into  his  benighted 
soul.  The  moral  direction  of  intellectual  feeling  may 
become  an  emotion  of  joyful  zeal  or  of  painful  repent- 
ance, as  seen  in  the  history  of  many  a  human  heart. 

But,  to  return,  Hope  leads  the  vital  current  gently 
and  equably  through  all  the  organs,  and  has  a  most 
active  and  beneficial  influence.  So  we  may  say  of 
Joy,  when  gentle  and  durable ;  hence  Virtue,  the 
most  durable  of  all  joy,  is  most  conducive  to  health. 
If  Joy  rises  to  a  lively  emotion,  the  brilliancy  of  the 
eyes,  the  inclination  to  sing,  jump,  and  laugh,  the 
quickened  respiration,  accelerated  pulse,  increased 
warmth,  etc.,  indicate  a  more  rapid  circulation,  and 
may  lead  to  cerebral  and  pulmonary  congestions. 
There  are  several  cases  on  record  of  death  from 
sudden  joy. 

Melancholy,  and  especially  its  highest  degree, 
Hopelesness,  produces  a  directly  opposite  effect  from 
Joy. 

The  constant  excitement,  fluctuating  between  pleas- 
ure and  pain,  in  which  Love  keeps  the  body  and 
mind,  is  known  to  all. 

Anger  is  a  passion  compounded  of  several  emo- 
tions. The  clonic  spasms  of  the  muscles,  producing 
tremors,  indicate  the  excitement  which  urges  the 
circulation  to  the  utmost  vehemence;  the  respira- 
tion keeps  pace  with  it,  and  in  some  cases  leads  to 
pneumo-thorax  and  bursting  of  the  heart.  It  acts  also, 
through  the  sympathetic  or  ganglionic  nerves,  upon 
the  secretions, — the  saliva,  milk,  and  bile, — which 
often  become  actually  poisoned.     A  child  died  as  if 


204 


Physiological  Metaphysics, 


struck  by  lightning  after  taking  the  milk  of  its  en- 
raged nurse.* 

Thus,  while  the  mind  receives  impressions  from 
the  outer  world  through  the  anatomical  organs  of 
the  body,  it  is  itself  also  influential  upon  the  body 
through  the  same  organs,  and  produces  as  palpable 
effects  as  any  external  agent;  proving  its  separate 
nature  from  the  body. 

To  complete  this  outline  of  the  effects  of  the  union 
of  body  and  mind,  we  add  the  following  table  of  the 
subjects  pertaining  to  physiological  metaphysics: 


Volition, 

Conscience, 

Judgment, 

imagination. 

Memory, 

Perception, 

Consciousness, 

-  Pure  Mental  Attributes. 

Ideas.                Emotions.                Impulses. 

Reflex  Motion. 

Afferent 
impressions 
deranged 
by  disease. 

Special  sense, 
Common  (organic)  sen 
Corporeal  sensation. 

sation, 

Vohintai y  motion,       ^ 
Expression, 
Involuntary  motion, 
Instincts,  or  con- 
sensual actions. 

Efferent    mo- 
tions inter- 
rupted  by 
'  sleep,   Intoxi- 
cation, Insan- 
ity, etc. 

In  the  lower  part  of  this  plan  are  placed  the  ani- 
mal functions,  or  the  various  actions  of  the  nervous 
system,  and  in  the  upper  part  the  purely  mental 
operations  or  attributes.  On  the  left  of  the  lower 
division  we  note  those  impressions  which  are  con- 
veyed to  the  mind  or  act  upon  the  body  by  means 
of  nerves  called  afferent,  because  proceeding  from  the 
surface  towards  the  great  nerve-centres ;  and  on  the 


*  Tliis  whole  subject  is  more  fully  treated  in  Feuchtersleben'a 
Medical  Psychology. 


Perception.  205 

right  hand  are  placed  the  motions  produced  by  nerves 
(efferent)  proceeding  from  the  nerve-centres. 

Instincts  and  involuntary  motion  are  produced  by 
the  reflex  action  of  the  nerves  themselves,  but  expres- 
sion and  voluntary  motion  require  the  cognizance  of 
the  mind.  The  sphere  of  consciousness  pertains  to 
both  body  and  mind:  hence  it  is  placed  in  the  centre 
of  the  plan,  in  connection  with  ideas,  emotions,  and 
impulses. 

The  tendency  of  physiology  is  to  locate  conscious- 
ness in  the  mesocephalon,  or  middle  brain.  This  is, 
doubtless,  the  seat  of  emotion;  and  in  diseases  of 
disturbed  or  excited  emotion,  as  chorea  or  hysteria, 
the  nerves  most  affected  are  those  connected  with 
this  structure.  The  influence  of  the  mesocephalon 
extends  upwards  to  the  cerebral  convolutions,  back- 
wards to  the  cerebellum,  and  downwards  to  all  the 
nerves  of  sensation  and  motion.  Hence  the  im- 
portant share  which  emotion  has  in  the  formation  of 
character. 

Having  already  defined  consciousness,  it  remains 
to  give  brief  descriptions  of  the  remaining  mental 
operations,  or  powers,  included  in  the  above  list. 
Perception  is  the  evidence  we  have  of  external  objects 
by  our  senses.  On  the  bodily  side  it  is  necessary 
that  the  organs  and  nerves  be  sound,  or  false  percep- 
tions will  result.  The  ringing  and  other  noises  in  the 
ears  (tinnitus),  floating  dark  specks  before  the  eyes 
(muscae  volitantes),  and  many  spectral  illusions  (as  in 
the  celebrated  case  of  Nicolai, — recorded  by  Sir  D. 
Brewster, — in  whom  plethora  was  associated  with  a 

18 


2o6  Memory, 

great  variety  of  phantasms),  have  their  origin  in  a 
diseased  condition  of  the  organs.  Yet  that  percep- 
tion is  an  attribute  of  the  mind  is  evident  from  the 
fact  that  attention  is  required.  The  senses  may  be 
impressed  by  their  appropriate  objects,  but  without 
attention  they  are  not  perceived.  Thus,  in  touch,  the 
voluntary  motion  tests  hardness,  weight,  and  form ; 
and  in  hearing  a  concert  we  may  concentrate  atten- 
tion upon  some  sounds  and  be  obUvious  to  the  rest. 
The  mental  influence  of  this  faculty  is  quite  evident 
in  some  blind  and  deaf  persons  who  make  great 
progress  on  account  of  attention. 

Memory  implies  a  former  conscious  experience,  its 
retention,  revival,  and  recognition.  The  preternatural 
excitements  of  the  brain,  as  in  fever  or  drowning, 
develop  it  strongly,  rendering  it  highly  probable  that 
no  conscious  thought  has  ever  perished.  Some  cir- 
cumstances seem  to  imply  that  every  nerve  and  organ 
of  sense  has  its  own  memory,  or  is  capable  of  re- 
viving in  the  mind  its  former  consciousness.  Hence 
the  laws  of  memory,  which  are  coexistence  and  suc- 
cession, analogy  and  contrast:  some  enumerate  them 
as  resemblance,  contiguity,  cause,  effect,  contrast. 

Many  curious  illustrations  of  the  laws  and  conditions 
of  memory  are  on  record.  Thus,  Van  Swieten  relates 
that  he  was  seized  with  vomiting  on  passing  a  certain 
spot  where  some  years  before  he  had  experienced  a 
horrible  stench.  Instances  have  occurred  in  which 
the  stimulus  of  disease  has  awakened  the  recollection 
of  things  which  had  been  long  forgotten,  and  the 
language  of  infancy  has  been  renewed  in  persons 


Imagination.  207 

who  had  for  many  years  known  only  some  other 
tongue.  Long  passages  of  Homer,  etc.,  forgotten 
during  health,  have  come  before  the  mind  during 
fever,  even  without  any  delirium.  Some  particular 
injuries,  also,  have  affected  the  memory  of  some 
particular  things  rather  than  others,  as  in  the  case  of 
a  medical  man  who  lost  all  recollection  of  his  wife 
and  children  after  having  been  thrown  from  his 
horse,  although  his  intellect  in  other  respects  re- 
mained sound.*  Loss  of  memory  on  particular 
topics  is  often  connected  with  attacks  of  an  apoplectic 
nature.  A  variety  of  this  kind,  called  aphasia,  has 
lately  claimed  special  attention,  from  its  increasing 
frequency.  In  this  the  patient  retains  a  correct  idea 
of  the  person  or  thing,  but  cannot  recall  the  word  or 
name.  Sometimes  one  word  is  used  for  another,  or 
words  are  invented  which  to  a  stranger  would  be 
quite  unintelligible. 

Imagination  is  a  term  used  to  represent  the  power 
which  the  mind  has  of  combining  ideas  previously 
received.  Imaginations,  or  images  produced  by  this 
faculty,  are  sometimes  so  vivid  as  to  affect  the  organs 
of  sense,  and  occasion  morbid  sensual  delusions,  as 
well  as  to  influence  the  organs  of  motion,  secretion, 
etc.  No  proof  could  be  more  positive  of  the  inde- 
pendent agency  of  the  mind.  Thus,  without  any 
external  stimulus  other  than  the  agency  of  the  mind 
itself,  a  variety  of  sensations  may  be  experienced  in 
the  body,  the  secretions,  as  tears,  saliva,  milk,  etc., 

*  Abercrombie's  Intellectual  Philosophy. 


2o8  jfiidgment. — Conscience. 

are  increased,  and  unconscious  gesticulations  and 
soliloquies,  as  in  excited  and  sleeping  persons,  are 
produced.  The  excessive  use  of  imagination  causes 
first  excitement,  and  then  torpor,  of  all  the  functions. 
The  hot-house  education  and  premature  development 
of  this  faculty  of  imagination,  in  modern  society,  have 
led  to  marasmus,  spinal  curvature,  heart-affections, 
tubercles,  etc.  The  frequent  over-excitement  and 
relaxation  of  the  brain  from  this  cause  react  on  its 
nutrition,  and  may  in  some  cases  end  in  idiocy. 

In  its  highest  degree.  Imagination  rises  to  the 
sphere  of  creative  fancy,  or  poetic  power.  In  some 
of  its  flights  it  encroaches  upon  the  prerogative  of 
conscience,  or  moral  susceptibility,  and  leads  to  self- 
deception  unless  held  in  check  by  the  precepts  of 
Divine  revelation. 

Judgment  is  the  decision  of  the  mind,  the  result 
of  comparing  two  or  more  ideas.  It  is  altogether 
mental  in  its  application.  It  is  an  act  of  the  mind 
upon  and  within  itself 

Conscience  is  sometimes  called  moral  sense,  moral 
faculty,  moral  judgment,  and  susceptibility  of  moral 
emotions.  It  might  also  be  termed  the  faith  faculty, 
or  the  inspirational  capacity  of  the  soul.  It  is  that 
faculty,  or  combination  of  faculties,  by  which  we  have 
ideas  of  right  and  wrong  respecting  actions,  and  cor- 
respondent feelings  of  approbation  or  disapprobation. 
It  brings  us  into  relation  with  the  spiritual  world, 
the  claims  of  God  and  duty,  etc.  Awakened,  quick- 
ened, and  guided  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  it  results  in 
the   highest   type   of  humanity,  —  a  real   Christiaa 


Personality.  209 

Some  have  called  it  the  light  of  nature;  but  it  is 
doubtful  if  this  faculty  is  ever  really  active  unless 
affected  by  special  spiritual  influences  and  enlight- 
ened by  a  knowle.dge  of  the  Divine  will.  Without 
the  latter  it  is  certainly  no  safe  guide  for  human  con- 
duct; for  as  St.  Paul  was  conscientious  when  consent- 
ing to  the  death  of  Stephen  and  the  persecution  of 
the  early  Christians,  so  many  a  man  has  committed 
great  crimes  in  all  good  conscience. 

Volition  is  the  dominion  exercised  by  the  mind 
over  itself,  employing  or  withholding  its  faculties  ifl 
any  particular  action.  It  is  synonymous  with  free 
agency,  and  is  an  essential  attribute  of  spirit,  sinc^ 
the  very  idea  of  spirit  supposes  self-action.  Feuch- 
tersleben  draws  a  very  judicious  distinction,  however, 
between  the  essential  freedom  of  the  spirit  and  the 
freedom  of  the  spirit  linked  to  the  body.  He  shows 
that  freedom  may — ist,  limit  itself,  so  far  as  the  spirit 
makes  itself  the  slave  of  sin  or  error;  2d,  it  may  be 
limited  by  physical  laws  from  without;  3d,  it  may  be 
limited  by  organization.  In  the  first,  the  free  man  is 
good  and  wise;  in  the  second,  powerful;  and  in  the 
third,  healthy. 

The  spirit  is  connected  with  consciousness  corpo- 
really in  receiving  impressions  through  the  organs 
of  sensation,  and  by  reaction  with  the  will  by  the 
organs  of  motion.  This  connection  of  body  and  mind 
is  complicated  by  temperament,  age,  capacity,  sex, 
habit,  idiosyncrasy,  race,  nationality,  profession,  and 
education.  The  result  of  all  these  relations  we  call 
person,  or  abstract  personality. 

18* 


2IO  Accountability. 

When  the  mind  of  a  man  has  such  a  mastery  over 
his  organs  as,  consistently  with  his  individual  person- 
ality, it  is  capable  of  obtaining,  when  he  so  thinks,  feels, 
and  wills,  as,  for  example,  in  the  character  of  a  person 
of  sanguine  temperament,  of  a  youth,  of  a  person  of 
eminent  talents,  of  a  soldier,  etc.,  he  can  and  ought 
to  think,  feel,  and  will,  he  is  psychologically  free, — 
that  is,  he  is  in  health ;  when  he  cannot,  he  is  out  of 
health.  As  a  further  illustration,  if  a  man  traveling 
on  a  railroad  is  prevented  by  the  rapid  motion  from 
discerning  the  landscape,  he  is  mechanically  unfree. 
If  he  does  not  attend  because  he  is  stupidly  insensi- 
ble to  the  beauties  of  nature,  he  is  ethically  unfree. 
If  he  does  not  attend  because  he  has  not  learned  what 
is  to  be  seen  in  these  objects,  he  is  logically  unfree. 
If  he  does  not  attend  because  he  is  engrossed  by 
interesting  conversation,  he  is  hindered  by  his  per- 
sonality, which  he  may,  however,  command.  If  he 
cannot  attend  because  he  is  suffering  from  headache, 
or  because  a  mental  image  flits  before  him,  so  that 
he  does  not  perceive  outward  objects,  he  is  out  of 
health,  and  consequently  irresponsible. 

It  is  difficult  to  determine  the  boundary  of  a 
healthy  personality,  and,  as  a  consequence,  account- 
ability, since  we  cannot  always  determine  conscious- 
ness in  another, — and  every  one  can  govern  himself 
if  he  is  conscious.  There  is,  moreover,  a  state  of 
transition,  caused  by  certain  half-free  conditions,  as 
sleep,  dreaming,  intoxication,  and  vertigo  produced 
by  mental  causes.  Our  present  outline  of  mental 
powers  would  be  incomplete  without  some  reference 


Dreaming.  2 1 1 

to  these  states:  we  therefore  condense  from  the 
author  last  referred  to,  and  add  a  few  remarks  of  our 
own  respecting  them. 

The  necessity  of  sleep  arises  from  the  compensa- 
tion required  by  the  nervous  system  for  what  has 
been  expended.  Its  causes  are  fatigue,  or  suspended 
physical  powers;  intense  and  prolonged  effect  of 
heat  or  cold ;  stupefaction,  as  by  odors  or  strong 
liquors,  —  which  act  by  lowering  nervous  vitality; 
mechanical  pressure  upon  the  brain,  impeding  the 
connection  with  the  sensorium ;  voluntary  reveries ; 
intense  mental  action,  and  monotonous  noise,  pre- 
venting the  conscious  formation  of  ideal  images. 

That  personality  is  not  suspended,  but  merely 
hindered  or  impeded  in  manifestation,  is  proved  by 
voluntary  waking  at  a  predetermined  hour.  Having 
no  external  images  through  sensitive  nerves,  the 
personality  has  intercourse  with  subjective  or  in- 
ternal images,  which  constitutes  dreaming.  The 
mind  is  then  occupied  with  the  pictorial  world  of 
fancy,  the  materials  of  which  are  drawn  from  the 
store  of  memory.  The  obscure  ideas  conveyed  from 
the  vegetative  organs  by  the  sympathetic  nerve,  play 
a  conspicuous  part  in  dreams,  although  their  cause  is 
not  recognized  by  the  mind,  which  ascribes  them  to 
external  sources.  Yet  the  organs  of  perception  are 
not  wholly  inert,  since  the  noise  of  a  falling  book 
may  cause  a  dream  of  a  pistol-shot,  etc. 

The  organization  and  mental  furniture  of  an  in- 
dividual are  reflected  in  dreaming ;  hence  every  one 
has  his  own  world  when  asleep,  and  when  awake 


212  Animal  Magnetism, 

that  of  others  and  his  true  relation  to  it.  Hence 
there  can  be  usually  no  instruction  in  dreams.  Yet 
in  this  condition  the  mind  is  most  withdrawn  from 
the  ordinary  influences  of  the  world  around;  hence 
the  adaptability  of  the  dream-state  to  spiritual  com- 
munication and  inspiration,  as  referred  to  so  often  in 
the  Scriptures. 

Intoxication  may  be  either  from  spirituous  liquor, 
narcotics,  or  exalted  imagination.  It  excites  the  cir- 
culation and  leads  to  cerebral  congestion  and  stupe- 
faction. It  is  a  state,  as  is  well  known,  of  varying 
proportions. 

Vertigo  from  rapid  succession  of  ideal  images  is  a 
state  resembling  intoxication  from  mental  causes. 

Of  these  states,  dreaming  has  the  most  interest  in  a 
scientific  point  of  view.  When  carried  to  a  patho- 
logical extent  it  becomes  somnambulism.  This  is  a 
condition  of  intense  sleep,  and  the  obscure  images 
and  instincts  are  most  powerful.  This  is  not  a  more 
exalted  state,  free  from  the  trammels  of  the  body, 
but  a  lower  and  diseased  state,  in  which  volition 
yields  the  sceptre  to  physically  directed  fancy.  This 
condition  may  be  brought  about  both  by  mental  and 
bodily  causes.  On  the  one  side,  grief,  suffering, 
mental  exertion,  passion,  and  a  too  effeminate  edu- 
cation, and  on  the  other,  sexual  indulgence,  abuse 
of  liquor,  indigestible  food,  and  other  diseases,  may 
result  in  somnambulism.  Larrey  brought  it  on  in  a 
wounded  soldier  whenever  he  probed  a  wound  which 
led  to  the  solar  plexus. 

Animal   magnetism    is   a   sort  of  somnambulism 


Religious  Sentiment.  213 

produced  by  strong  mental  impressions.  In  it  the 
obscure  ideas  become  prominent,  and  are  expressed 
positively,  as  a  divination;  sympathy  obtains  the 
mastery,  the  feeling  alone  is  exalted,  and  the  percep- 
tion and  will  are  suppressed.  The  languages  and 
flights  of  fancy  exhibited  by  the  clairvoyant  are  no 
doubt  reproductions  of  dormant  recollections.  After 
all  that  its  votaries  have  claimed  for  it,  and  the  multi- 
tudes who  have  experimented  with  it,  no  new  idea 
has  been  added  by  its  means  to  the  stock  of  human 
knowledge,  but  much  has  been  witnessed  that  was 
vague,  foolish,  and  wicked.  There  is  a  clairvoyance 
superior  to  that  of  the  so-called  magnetic:  it  is  that 
of  a  wise,  virtuous,  and  pious  man. 

In  examining  thus  a  kw  particulars  in  which  the 
bodily  organization  is  acted  upon  by  its  spiritual 
inhabitant,  and  how  it  reacts  also  upon  the  mind,  we 
have  found  abundant  proof  of  the  independent  nature 
of  the  soul  as  taught  in  Holy  Writ.  The  religious 
sentiment  arising  from  such  inquiries  is  well  expressed 
in  the  Psalmist's  ascription  of  praise  to  his  Maker: 
"I  will  praise  thee;  for  I  am  fearfully  and  wonderfully 
made:  marvelous  are  thy  works;  and  that  my  soul 
knoweth  right  well.  My  substance  was  not  hid  from 
thee,  when  I  was  made  in  secret,  and  curiously 
wrought  in  the  lowest  parts  of  the  earth.  Thine 
eyes  did  see  my  substance,  yet  being  imperfect;  and 
in  thy  book  all  my  members  were  written,  which  in 
continuance  were  fashioned,  when  as  yet  there  was 
none  of  them.  How  precious  also  are  thy  thoughts 
unto  me,  O  God!  how  great  is  the  sum  of  them  J 


214  Religions  Sentiment. 

If  I  should  count  them,  they  are  more  in  number  than 
the  sand;  when  I  awake,  I  am  still  with  thee.  .  . 
Search  me,  O  God,  and  know  my  heart;  try  me,  and 
know  my  thoughts;  and  see  if  there  be  any  wicked 
way  in  me,  and  lead  me  in  the  way  everlasting." 

NoTE.-:-The  progiess  of  Histology  has  shown  that  the  elementary  cell 
is  still  more  simple  than  the  above  description.  It  is  simply  a  mass  of 
living  jelly.  The  membrane  and  granules  referred  to  are  formed 
materials,  and  not  essential  to  the  existence  or  integrity  of  the  cell, 
whose  vital  actions  are  associated  with  the  continual  assimilation  and 
rejection  of  material  particles,  as  described  above. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

THE  DOCTRINE  OF  A  MEDIATOR. 


*•  Once  in  the  end  of  the  world  hath  Christ  appeared  to  put  away  sin  by 
the  sacrifice  of  himself."  St.  Paul. 


(215) 


CONTENTS. 

Ideas  of  Mediation  and  Sacrifice  historical — Their  Limitation  to  the 
Person  of  Christ  the  Characteristic  of  Christianity — Yet  this  opposed 
by  Professed  Adherents — Scripture  Statement — Manner  of  Atone- 
ment not  explained — History  of  the  Doctrine  from  Apostolic  Times 
— Summary  of  Anselm's  Views — No  Real  Objection  to  Mediation 
in  general — Christ's  Mediation  presupposes  God's  Moral  Govern- 
ment, including  Future  Punishment — Analogies  in  Men's  Circum- 
stances in  Life — Mystery  no  Objection — Vicarious  Suffering  accords 
with  the  Moral  Sense  of  Mankind. 


(216) 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

THE   DOCTRINE   OF   A   MEDIATOR. 

The  assertion  of  the  mediatorial  office  of  Christ  is 
the  distinguishing  doctrine  of  the  Christian  religion. 
Ideas  of  mediation,  and  of  atonement  by  sacrifice, 
are  historical  in  many  nations,  even  the  most  ancient, 
and  may  be  traced  directly  to  that  primitive  religion 
of  the  earliest  ages  which  was  originally  revealed 
from  heaven.  The  promise  of  a  Saviour,  given  to 
Adam,  has  been  distorted  in  various  ways  by  the 
imaginations  of  mankind,  yet  it  has  never  been  wholly 
lost.  To  the  majority  of  the  world  it  has  been  a 
light  shining  in  a  dark  place  until  the  day-dawn  and 
the  day-spring  arise  in  their  hearts.  In  the  Jewish 
nation  that  light  was  increased  by  successive  commu- 
nications from  heaven,  and  the  Old  Testament  con- 
tains the  history  of  those  communications  until  the 
birth  of  Jesus,  in  whom  all  the  promises  and  prophe- 
cies culminated.  The  limitation  of  the  ideas  of  media- 
tion and  atonement  to  the  person  and  work  of  Christ 
constitutes  the  individuality  of  Christianity,  since  but 
for  this  limitation  there  is  nothing  in  it  to  distinguish 
it  from  the  systems  of  ancient  philosophy.  Its  moral 
teaching,  its  doctrines  of  a  personal  Creator,  of  the 
spiritual  nature  of  man,  of  a  future  state,  and  even  of 
the    resurrection   of  the   dead,  may  be    found   ?1<=e- 

19  (217) 


2 1 8  opposition. 

where;  but  that  Jesus  came  into  the  world  to  save 
sinners ;  that  his  death  was  an  offering,  and  that  re- 
pentance and  remission  of  sins  must  be  preached  in 
iiis  name ;  in  other  words,  that  Christ  is  the  true  me- 
diator between  God  and  man,  is  plainly  characteristic. 
The  greatest  opposition  to  Christianity  has  been 
directed  against  the  personal  mediation  of  Christ,  as 
the  doctrine  most  obnoxious  to  infidelity.  Even 
persons  who  adhere  strongly  to  a  belief  in  the  Divine 
existence  and  in  man's  spiritual  nature  are  found 
objecting  against  the  idea  of  atonement  through  the 
vicarious  sufferings  of  Jesus.  Many  of  these  persons 
profess  a  strong  attachment  towards  Christianity,  but 
their  love  is  for  a  modified  form  of  it,  very  different 
from  that  which  the  apostles  taught.  They  believe 
that  God  cares  for  man,  and  that  He  has  spoken  to  man 
through  his  Son,  but  they  regard  Jesus  as  a  Teacher 
rather  than  a  Saviour,  and  the  gospel  as  a  system  of 
morals  and  aesthetics  rather  than  a  revelation  of 
spiritual  force.  They  believe  that  Christ  had  a  super- 
human, if  not,  in  some  sense,  a  Divine,  character,  but 
they  consider  his  life  to  be  merely  an  example  of 
unrivaled  teaching  and  of  marvelous  self-sacrifice, 
and  his  death  a  mere  martyrdom.  They  accept  Christ 
as  a  teacher  or  prophet,  perhaps  as  a  king,  but  not  as 
a  priest.  They  exclude  the  atonement  from  their 
scheme  of  Christianity,  and  i^egard  religion  simply 
as  a  system  of  morals.  They  expect  Christianity  tc 
prevail  in  the  world  by  the  destruction  of  its  forms 
and  dogmas,  and  by  its  being  received  as  the  highest 
type  of  ethics.     If,  however,  there  is  any  scriptural 


Scripture  Representation.  219 

teaching  which  is  in  full  accordance  with  the  analogy 
of  nature  and  the  constitution  of  things,  it  is  that  of 
tlie  mediation  of  Christ  for  the  salvation  oi  men.  The 
arguments  of  Bishop  Butler  are  so  conclusive  respect- 
ing this  that  we  content  ourselves  with  pursuing  the 
path  which  he  has  so  ably  pointed  out, 

Christ  is  represented  in  the  Scriptures  not  only  as 
"the  light  of  the  world,"  but  also  as  a  propitiatory 
sacrifice  and  atonement  for  sin.  "  Sacrifices  of  expia- 
tion were  commanded  the  Jews,  and  obtained  amongst 
most  other  nations,  from  tradition,  whose  original 
probably  was  revelation.  And  they  were  continually 
repeated,  both  occasionally,  and  at  the  returns  of 
stated  times,  and  made  up  great  part  of  the  external 
religion  of  mankind.  *But  now  once  in  the  end  of 
the  world  hath  Christ  appeared  to  put  away  sin  by 
the  sacrifice  of  himself'"*  As  He  is  our  propitiatory 
sacrifice.  He  is  called  ^'the  Lamb  of  God,"  and  as  He 
voluntarily  offered  himself  up.  He  is  styled  our 
"High-Priest."  In  accordance  with  the  usage  of  its 
language,  the  Old  Testament  refers  to  Him  as  if  He 
had  already  come.  "He  was  wounded  for  our  trans- 
gressions. He  was  bruised  for  our  iniquities.  The 
chastisement  of  our  peace  was  laid  upon  Him:  and 
with  his  stripes  are  we  healed."  In  the  New  Testa- 
ment we  read  that  "He  suffered  for  sins,  the  just  for 
the  unjust;"  that  "He  gave  himself  a  ransom  for  all;" 
that  He  "hath  redeemed  us  from  the  curse  of  the 
law,  being  made  a  curse  for  us;"  that  He  "died  for 

*  Butler's  Analogy. 


220  Manner  not  explained. 

us ;"  that  **  we  have  not  been  redeemed  with  corrupt! 
ble  things,  such  as  silver  and  gold,  but  with  the 
precious  blood  of  Christ;"  that  "we  have  redemption 
in  his  blood,  even  the  forgiveness  of  sins;"  that  He 
"was  once  offered  to  bear  the  sins  of  many;"  and 
that  "we  are  sanctified,  through  the  offering  of  the 
body  of  Jesus  Christ,  once  for  all."  These,  and 
other  passages,  show  that  the  Scriptures  teach  the 
connection  of  Christ's  sufferings  and  death  with  the 
salvation  of  sinners,  or,  in  other  words,  the  satisfac- 
tion of  Divine  justice  for  the  sin  of  man  by  the  sub^ 
stituted  sufferings  of  the  Son  of  God.  Such  passages 
cannot  be  explained  on  the  supposition  that  the 
sufferings  and  death  of  Christ  were  only  a  great 
example,  preaching  the  evil  of  sin  and  the  dignity 
of  sorrow. 

In  what  particular  way  the  death  of  Christ  has 
efficacy  to  redeem  and  pardon  and  sanctify  the  peni- 
tent believer  is  not  explained  in  the  Scriptures,  nor  is 
it  necessary, ,  except  as  a  matter  of  speculation  or 
theory.  The  simple  fact  is  set  forth  that  Christ's 
death  has  removed  the  obstacles  which  were  in  the 
way  of  mercy  and  forgiveness  to  sinful  men,  and  this 
is  a  sufificient  ground  for  Christian  faith  and  practice: 

The  doctrinal  summaries  (or  creeds)  of  Christian 
churches  or  communities  usually  adhere  to  the  sim- 
ple biblical  representation;  but  particular  teachers 
sometimes  enlarge  and  reason  upon  it,  so  as  to  shoW 
its  acceptability  to  the  enlightened  reason.  This  is 
eminently  proper,  since  we  are  nowhere  forbidden  in 
God's  word  to  employ  our  reasoning  faculties  upon 


History  of  the  Doctrine.  221 

the  elucidation  of  revealed  truth.  Some,  however, 
with  more  zeal  than  knowledge,  make  use  of  very 
exaggerated  and  injudicious  expressions,  and  repre- 
sent God  as  actually  injured  by  the  sins  of  men,  and 
so  angered  and  enraged  (in  the  sense  of  perturbation) 
that  it  was  necessary  He  should  be  propitiated.  Even 
\{  such  language  is  used  only  in  a  figurative  sense, 
meaning  that  the  law  oi  God  must  be  preserved 
inviolate,  and  that  the  punishment  following  trans- 
gression can  only  be  ameliorated  or  removed  by  a 
remedial  mediation,  still  it  would  be  better  for  the 
cause  of  truth  to  avoid  such  exaggerated  language, 
it  is  so  different  from  the  sublime  announcement, 
"God  so  loved  the  world  that  He  gave  his  only- 
begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  believeth  on  Him 
should  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life." 

To  the  minds  of  the  apostles,  the  subject  of  the 
atonement  was  beset  with  no  difificulties.  Trained 
from  childhood  in  the  idea  that  God  was  approach- 
able by  sacrifice,  they  beheld  in  the  death  of  Jesus 
the  realization  of  their  religious  aspirations,  the  ful- 
fillment of  the  Jewish  sacrificial  types,  and  the  true 
offering  for  human  guilt.  The  early  Fathers  of  the 
church  also  refrained  from  speculation  upon  this 
subject,  and  confined  themselves  to  the  simplicity  of 
scriptural  language;  but,  as  time  passed  on,  crowds 
of  Gnostic  and  Platonizing  theorizers,  the  prototypes 
of  modern  schools,  began  to  philosophize,  and  call 
in  question  the  cardinal  doctrines  of  Christianity  and 
the  cause  of  the  atoning  death  of  Christ.  They  rested 
not  by  simple  faith  in  the  mysterious  facts  revealed, 

19* 


222  Aftselm's   View. 

but  sought  to  find  reasons  for  the  facts,  and  endeav-. 
ored  to  measure  the  Infinite  by  their  own  finite  stand- 
ards. In  those  dark  ages  of  the  church,  when  the 
natural  consequences  of  such  theorizing  produced  its 
evil  fruit,  many  regarded  the  atonement  as  a  price 
paid  to  Satan  for  the  ransom  of  mankind.  Others 
taught  the  need  of  penance  and  suffering  to  complete 
the  work  of  Jesus.  Others,  again,  taught  that  Christ 
paid  the  exact  debt  which  we  should  have  paid. 
Still,  in  every  generation  there  were  luminaries  in 
the  church  which  dispensed  the  light  of  truth  and 
protested  against  error,  and,  as  the  word  of  God  be- 
came unfettered,  the  apostolic  doctrine  of  the  atone- 
ment, as  well  as  other  truths,  revived  in  the  under- 
standings and  hearts  of  men.  Anselm  of  Canterbury 
and  Thomas  Aquinas  are  distinguished  among  those 
who  have  contributed  to  this  end,  and  the  Reformers 
of  Germany  and  England  have  entered  into  their 
labors.  In  his  treatise  upon  this  subject,  Anselm 
defines  sin  as  the  withholding  from  God  what  is  due 
to  Him  from  man.  Sin  is  debt.  But  man  owes  to 
God  the  absolute  and  entire  subjection  of  his  will,  at 
all  times,  to  the  Divine  law  and  will.  This  is  not 
given,  and  hence  the  guilt,  or  debt,  of  man  to  Deity. 
The  extinction  of  this  guilt  does  not  consist  in  simply 
beginning  again  to  subject  the  will  entirely  to  its 
rightful  sovereign,  but  in  giving  satisfaction  for  the 
previous  cessation  in  so  doing.-  God  has  been  robbed 
of  his  honor  in  the  past,  and  it  must  be  restored  to 
Him  in  some  way,  while  at  the  same  time  the  present 
and  future  honor  due  to  Him  is  being  given.     It  is 


hifinite  Merit  fieeded  for  Atonement .        223 

impossible  for  man,  who  is  still  a  sinner,  to  render 
this  satisfaction ;  yet  this  impossibihty  does  not  re^ 
lease  him  from  his  indebtedness  or  guilt,  because 
it  is  the  effect  of  a  free  act,  which  must  be  held  re- 
sponsible for  all  its  consequences.  But  the  question 
arises,  Cannot  the  love  and  compassion  of  God  ab- 
stracted from  his  justice  come  in  at  this  point,  and 
remit  the  sin  of  man  without  any  satisfaction?  This 
is  impossible,  because  it  would  be  irregularity  and 
injustice.  If  sin  is  punished  neither  in  the  person  of 
the  transgressor  nor  in  that  of  a  proper  substitute, 
then  unrighteousness  is  not  subject  to  any  law  or 
regulation  of  any  sort;  it  enjoys  more  liberty  than 
righteousness  itself,  which  would  be  a  contradiction 
and  a  wrong.  Furthermore,  it  would  contradict  the 
Divine  justice  itself,  if  the  creature  could  defraud  the 
Creator  of  that  which  is  his  due,  without  giving  any 
satisfaction  for  the  robbery.  Since  there  is  nothing 
better  and  greater  than  God,  there  is  no  attribute 
more  just  and  necessary  than  that  primitive  right- 
eousness innate  to  Deity  which  maintains  the  honor 
of  God.  This  justice,  indeed,  is  God  himself,  so  that 
to  satisfy  it  is  to  satisfy  God  himself  There  are  two 
ways,  argues  Anselm,  in  which  the  claims  of  justice 
can  be  satisfied.  First,  the  punishment  may  be  actu- 
ally inflicted  upon  the  transgressor.  But  this,  of 
course,  would  be  incompatible  with  his  salvation  from 
sin  and  his  eternal  happiness,  because  the  punishment 
required  is  eternal,  in  order  to  offset  the  infinite  de- 
merit of  robbing  God  of  his  honor.  It  is  plain, 
therefore,  that  man  cannot  be  his  own  atoner,  and 


224  ^ove  satisfies  justice. 

render  satisfaction  for  his  own  sin.  A  sinner  cannot 
justify  a  sinner,  any  more  than  a  criminal  can  pardon 
his  own  crime.  The  second  and  only  other  way  in 
which  the  attribute  of  justice  is  satisfied  is  by  substi- 
tuted or  vicarious  suffering.  This  requires  the  agency 
of  another.  Yet  ev^erything  depends  upon  the  nature 
and  character  of  the  Being  who  renders  the  substituted 
satisfaction.  For  it  would  be  an  illegitimate  pro- 
cedure to  defraud  justice  by  substituting  a  less  for  a 
more  valuable  satisfaction.  It  belongs,  therefore,  to 
the  conception  of  a  true  vicarious  satisfaction  that 
something  be  offered  to  justice  for  the  sin  of  man 
that  is  greater  than  the  finite  and  created.  In  other 
words,  an  infinite  value  must  pertain  to  that  satisfac- 
tion which  is  substituted  for  the  sufferings  of  man- 
kind. Only  God,  therefore,  can  make  this  satisfaction. 
Only  Deity  can  satisfy  the  claims  of  Deity.  But,  on 
the  other  hand,  man  must  render  it,  otherwise  it 
would  not  be  a  satisfaction  for  man's  sin.  Conse- 
quently, the  required  and  adequate  satisfaction  must 
be  theanthropic,—i.e.  rendered  by  a  God-man.  As 
God,  the  God-man  can  give  to  Deity  more  than  the 
whole  finite  creation  could  render.* 

This  summary  of  Anselm's  reasoning  will  enable 
the  thoughtful  inquirer  to  see  that  there  is  no  alter- 
native for  the  Divine  benevolence  but  either  to  leave 
the  sinner  to  the  natural  and  ordinary  course  of  jus- 
tice, or  else  to  deliver  him  from  it  by  satisfying  its 
claims  for  him  and  in  his  stead.     The  love  of  God  is 

*  See  Shedd's  History  of  Doctrines. 


Varied  Vte'u/S^  225 

magnified  in  thus  satisfying  his  own  justice  for  the 
sinner  by  the  gift  and  sacrifice  of  his  Son.  No  lati- 
tudinarian  views  can  lay  aside  the  claims  of  Divine 
justice,  nor  show  how  these  claims  can  be  met  with- 
out the  sacrifice  of  Christ.  Justice  cannot  be  ignored 
by  prerogative,  nor  satisfied  without  atonement,  but 
the  infinite  merit  of  Christ's  sacrifice  fully  suffices  for 
the  infinite  demerit  of  sin.  Here  only  do  righteous- 
ness and  peace  meet  together.  Here  holiness  and 
love  are  reconciled. 

It  is  hard  to  see  how  the  logic  of  Anselm  can  be 
set  aside,  if  we  admit  the  world  to  be  under  the 
government  of  moral  law  at  all.  Such  reasoning, 
however,  must  not  be  regarded  as  the  basis  of  our 
faith,  since  we  can  only  know  of  God's  will  concerning 
us  by  what  He  has  revealed ;  yet  rational  argument, 
as  well  as  analogy,  tends  to  confirm  our  faith  ^by 
showing  the  consistency  of  Bible  teaching  with  the 
order  of  our  own  minds, — the  Eternal  Reason  in  the 
word  corresponding  with  his  manifestation  in  our 
own  spiritual  and  rational  nature,  as  well  as  with  the 
world  around  us. 

Anselm's  theory  of  satisfaction  has  had  general 
acceptance  both  among  Roman  Catholics  and  Prot- 
estants, the  latter,  however,  preferring  the  modifica- 
tion of  it  taught  by  Thomas  Aquinas,  that  the  value 
of  Christ's  blood  was  infinite,  on  account  of  the  in- 
finite dignity  of  his  person,  and  therefore  outweighed 
the  sins  of  all  men.  Duns  Scotus,  on  the  other  hand, 
maintained  that  God  was  satisfied  with  the  ransom 
paid,  although  it  had  not  in  itself  any  infinite  value. 


226  Socinian  Objections. 

The  tendency  to  hypothetical  speculation  and  ex- 
aggerated expressions  concerning  the  Divine  wrath, 
such  as  before  referred  to,  led  many  sincere  Christians 
to  repudiate  this  mode  of  representation,  as  contrary 
to  reason  and  Scripture.  Even  the  harmless  term 
satisfaction,  and  the  figurative  expressions  relative  to 
debt,  which  had  been  introduced  by  Anselm,  were 
disapproved,  because  they  were  so  often  perverted. 
Reinhard  and  other  German  writers  regard  the  death 
of  Christ  as  a  solemn  declaration  that  God  will  be 
merciful  to  sinners.  "  God  thus  appears  as  a  loving 
father,  who  is  willing  to  grant  pardon  to  sinners,  but 
also  as  a  just  and  wise  father,  who,  far  from  exhibiting 
any  unseasonable  and  improper  tenderness,  will  im- 
plant in  the  minds  of  the  children  whom  He  pardons 
a  most  vivid  aversion  to  their  former  sins,  and  teach 
them  by  an  example  the  dreadful  consequences  that 
attend  the  violation  of  his  laws,  and  the  misery  which 
they  themselves  have  deserved." 

Socinianism  has  made  the  strongest  opposition  to 
the  theory  of  satisfaction,  by  arguing  that  the  terms 
satisfaction  and  remission  of  sins  contradict  each 
other, — that  if  another  make  payment  for  debt  it  has 
the  same  value  as  if  it  had  been  paid  by  the  debtor 
himself,  and  a  gift  is  out  of  the  question, — that  the 
sufferings  of  the  innocent  could  not  satisfy  the  de- 
mand for  the  punishment  of  the  guilty, — and  that 
what  Christ  has  done  and  suffered  for  us  is  no  true 
equivalent  for  a  guilty  race,  since  He  suffered  only 
one  temporal  death.  These  and  similar  arguments 
lead  them  to  regard  the  death  of  Jesus  as  that  of  a. 


Summary.  227 

martyr,  or  as  the  necessary  transition  to  his  subse- 
quent exaltation,  and  not  in  any  proper  sense  a 
substituted  sacrifice. 

The  Mystics  sought  to  find  the  true  principle  of 
redemption  in  the  repetition  in  themselves  of  the 
sacrifice  once  made  by  Christ, — i.e.  in  literally  crucify- 
ing their  own  fiesh.  Thus  they  expected  to  realize  a 
second  and  internal  redemption. 

The  many-sidedness  of  truth  finds  a  striking  illus- 
tration in  the  various  speculations  concerning  the 
atonement.  If  we  regard  it  from  the  standpoint  of 
moral  governm.ent,  it  is  a  satisfaction  to  essential 
justice  provided  by  Divine  love.  Yet  it  was  also  an 
example  of  the  righteousness  of  God,  and  a  solemn 
confirmation  of  his  willingness  to  pardon  sin.  It  was 
also  the  necessary  transition  to  Christ's  glorification, 
and  the  means  of  our  personal  sanctification  and 
crucifixion  of  the  flesh.  In  addition  to  these  views, 
we  may  also  regard  it  as  the  necessary  and  divinely- 
appointed  means,  ordained  before  the  foundation 
of  the  world,  to  exalt  the  human  race,  through  its 
glorified  Head,  to  closest  Divine  communion  and 
pre-eminence. 

Whatever  difificulties  were  in  the  way  of  our  pardon 
and  access  to  God  have  been  removed  by  Christ's 
death.  "For  He  hath  made  Him  to  be  sin  [or  a  sin- 
offering]  for  us,  who  knew  no  sin ;  that  we  might  be 
made  the  righteousness  of  God  in  Him."  We  may 
not  be  able  to  understand  exactly  how  this  effect  has 
been  produced,  but  we  are  satisfied  that  God  selected 
this  extraordinary  means   from   the  impulse  of  his 


228  Moral  Government  implied, 

own  sincere  love  and  benevolence  to  man.  "  Herein 
is  love,  not  that  we  loved  God,  but  that  He  loved  us, 
and  sent  his  Son  to  be  the  propitiation  for  our  sins." 

There  can  be  no  reasonable  objection  to  the  idea 
of  mediation,  or  of  a  Mediator,  in  general,  since  the 
whole  visible  government  of  God  is  a  system  of 
means  and  agencies  and  second  causes,  and  the 
highest  result  of  the  researches  of  physical  science  is 
to  discover  and  arrange  these  agencies  in  the  order 
(or  law)  of  their  operation.  All  creatures  are  brought 
into  the  world  by  the  mediation  of  others.  Our  lives 
in  infancy  are  preserved  by  the  instrumentality  of 
others.  Food  is  the  medium  of  nutrition.  Air 
mediates  to  the  purification  of  the  blood,  and  every 
satisfaction  of  life  is  obtained  in  like  manner.  Why 
should  the  mediation  of  Jesus  be  stricken  out  of  the 
concurrent  chain  of  agencies  which  make  up  the 
order  of  the  Divine  government  of  the  universe?  Do 
we  wish  to  be  independent,  as  God  is?  An  honest 
answer  to  this  question  might  reveal  the  real  secret 
of  much  of  the  infidelity  which  is  in  the  world. 

The  mediation  of  Jesus  necessarily  presupposes 
the  moral  government  of  God,  implying  the  spiritual 
nature  of  the  soul,  its  relation  to  God  as  a  creature 
under  law,  and  the  future  punishment  of  voluntary 
wrong-doing.  This  is  evident;  for  if  there  is  no 
danger  there  can  be  no  salvation.  But  the  representa- 
tion of  the  principles  of  his  spiritual  government,  as 
exhibited  in  the  Scriptures,  does  not  contradict  the 
order  of  nature  in  the  circumstances  and  conditions 
of  human  life,  since  the  Author  of  Nature  is  also  the 


Punishment  of  Sin.  229 

God  of  the  Bible.  If  there  be  punishment  for  vio- 
lating natural  law,  the  same  principle  will  apply  to 
morals.  If  the  breach  of  a  natural  law  entails  suffer- 
ing, may  not  the  natural  and  necessary  consequence 
of  sin  be  suffering  also?  If  we  expect  to  be  injured 
by  falling  from  a  precipice,  can  we  hope  to  go  free 
when  we  violate  a  principle  of  moral  rectitude?  That 
were  to  make  the  Creator  of  the  world  and  the  Re- 
vealer  of  moral  law  very  different  beings.  As  moral 
law  relates  chiefly  to  the  moral  and  spiritual  nature 
or  soul  of  man,  so  it  may  be  reasonably  supposed 
that  the  suffering  consequent  on  sin  may  principally 
affect  the  soul;  yet,  as  we  have  seen  that  soul  and 
body  act  reciprocally  upon  each  other,  so  the  dark- 
ness or  suffering  of  the  soul  will  degrade  the  body. 
The  full  nature  of  the  punishment  of  sin,  however, 
can  never  be  known  until  the  age  of  mediation  and 
probation  has  passed  away,  and  the  age  of  retribution 
comes.  In  the  mean  time,  the  warnings  of  Holy  Writ, 
given  in  various  figures  of  speech,  are  both  salutary 
and  wise.  **  The  prudent  man  foreseeth  the  evil,  but 
the  simple  pass  on  and  are  punished." 

That  the  full  punishment  of  sin  is  yet  future,  is  an 
objection  often  urged.  The  Bible  says,  "Because 
sentence  against  an  evil  work  is  not  executed  speedily, 
therefore  the  heart  of  the  sons  of  men  is  fully  set  in 
them  to  do  evil.  Though  a  sinner  do  evil  an  hundred 
times,  and  his  days  be  prolonged,  yet  surely  I  know 
that  it  shall  be  well  with  them  that  fear  God,  which 
fear  before  Him ;  but  it  shall  not  be  well  with  the 
wicked,  neither  shall  he  prolong  his  days,  which  are 
20 


230  Remedial  Provision, 

as  a  shadow;  because  he  feareth  not  before  God.'* 
Now,  the  circumstances  of  natural  punishments — i.e. 
the  injury  or  suffering  produced  by  a  violation  of  the 
order  of  nature — are  perfectly  analogous  to  what  the 
Bible  teaches  respecting  the  future  punishment  of  sin. 
Such  punishments  often  follow  actions  which  are 
accompanied  with  present  pleasure  and  advantage, 
and  are  often  much  greater  than  the  pleasure  or 
advantage:  as  when  sickness  and  untimely  death 
result  from  pleasurable  vice  and  intemperance.  These 
punishments,  also,  are  often  delayed  a  great  while, 
sometimes  until  after  the  acts  which  occasioned  them 
are  forgotten.  They  often  come  suddenly  and  with 
violence  after  such  delay.  There  is  also  a  certain 
bound  to  imprudence  and  negligence,  which  once 
passed,  the  opportunity  of  mediation  is  gone  and  the 
state  of  retribution  begins,  when  there  remains  no 
place  for  repentance  and  recovery.  If  the  husband- 
man lets  his  seed-time  pass  without  sowing,  the  whole 
year  is  lost  to  him ;  and  a  certain  degree  of  extrava- 
gance and  folly  will  surely  entail  poverty  and  sick- 
ness and  disgrace,  which  no  sorrow  can  avert.  In 
perfect  accordance  with  these  natural  principles  do 
the  Scriptures  warn  us  against  the  evil  consequences 
of  sin,  and  point  us  to  the  hopeless  condition  of  the 
finally  impenitent:  ''Then  shall  they  call  upon  me,  but 
I  will  not  answer;  they  shall  seek  me  early,  but  they 
shall  not  find  me." 

The  mediation  of  Jesus  proposes  to  deliver  us  from 
the  punishment  and  guilt  of  our  sins  by  forgiveness, 
and  to  recover  us  from  our  lapsed  condition  by  the 


Remedial  Objection.  231 

sanctificatlon  of  our  natures.  Is  there  anything  in 
nature  analogous  to  this?  It  is  useless  to  speculate 
as  to  whether  the  world  might  have  been  constituted 
without  the  existence  of  misery  or  evil.  Our  specu- 
lations will  not  change  the  nature  of  things.  The 
fact  is  evident  that  the  Creator  of  the  world  has  per- 
mitted evil.  But  then  He  has  provided  reliefs,  and, 
in  many  cases,  perfect  remedies;  reliefs  and  remedies 
even  for  much  of  that  evil  which  is  the  result  of  our 
own  misconduct,  and  which  in  the  regular  course  of 
nature  would  have  ended  in  our  destruction,  but  for 
such  remedies.  Neither  sorrow  nor  reformation  will 
repair  the  injury  done  by  a  violation  of  nature's  laws. 
The  principle  of  remedial  mediation  must  be  taken 
advantage  of  if  we  would  escape  the  consequences 
of  imprudence.  If  a  man  fall  from  a  precipice  and 
break  a  limb,  sorrow  for  the  fall  will  not  repair  it,  yet 
it  may  be  remedied  by  another.  People  ruin  their 
fortunes  by  extravagance,  they  bring  diseases  on 
themselves  by  excess,  they  incur  the  penalties  of  civil 
laws,  nor  will  sorrow  for  these  past  follies  and  good 
behavior  for  the  future  prevent  the  natural  conse- 
quences of  these  things  Men  are  often  forced  to 
rely  upon  the  assistance  of  others  in  order  to  recover 
from  the    effects  of   their    own    misconduct. 

Another  illustration  may  be  drawn  from  pathology. 
A  bone  was  not  made  to  be  broken,  but  for  use,  yet 
it  is  liable  to  be  broken,  and  provision  has  been  made 
for  its  reparation,  not  by  immediate  union  through  the 
ordinary  processes  of  nutrition  and  growth,  but  by 
the  mediation  of  a  provisional  callus,  which  re-estab- 


232  Unreasonable  Objections. 

lishes  the  relation  of  parts  and  holds  them  in  coher- 
ence until  restoration  is  effected,  when  it  is  removed. 
It  is,  therefore,  perfectly  consistent  with  the  nature  of 
things  and  the  circumstances  of  mankind  that  God 
should  provide  deliverance  from  spiritual  maladies 
and  consequences  of  transgression  for  all  who  avail 
themselves  of  it.  So  that  we  may  appropriately  ask, 
"  Is  there  no  balm  in  Gilead?  Is  there  no  physician 
there?  Why,  then,  is  not  the  health  of  the  daughter 
of  my  people  recovered?" 

The  Divine  character  of  Christ,  and  the  spiritual 
nature  of  the  change  proposed  to  be  wrought  in  the 
human  soul,  are  sometimes  objected  to  on  the  ground 
of  their  mystery.  This  is  a  childish  and  unphilo- 
sophic  procedure ;  for  what  is  there  known  to  science 
which  is  not  mysterious?  We  take  cognizance  of 
facts  and  their  relations,  but  the  ultimate  nature  of 
things,  and  the  reasons  even  of  the  simplest  facts,  are 
beyond  the  reach  of  human  intellect.  It  is  certainly 
reasonable  to  attribute  Divinity  to  the  Saviour,  when 
we  reflect  on  the  nature  of  the  work  proposed.  Who 
can  forgive  sins  but  God?  Who  can  renew  in  the 
soul  the  principles  of  original  rectitude  but  the  Au- 
thor of  its  existence?  Nor  is  it  more  mysterious  to 
conceive  of  God  becoming  incarnate,  and  communi- 
cating the  power  of  that  divinely-human  life  to  the 
souls  of  myriads  of  men,  than  to  conceive  of  mag- 
netism communicated  to  a  bar  of  iron,  which,  without 
loss  of  virtue  itself,  may  magnetize  a  thousand  needles 


Foolish  Objections.  233 

and  endow  them  with  properties  which  they  had  not 
before. 

Some  object  to  the  idea  of  vicarious  or  substituted 
atonement  as  representing  God  as  being  indifferent 
whether  He  punishes  the  innocent  or  the  guilty.  Such 
objectors  must  either  deny  the  personal  government 
of  God  in  the  affairs  of  the  world,  or  they  forget  that 
vicarious  punishment  or  suffering  is  a  providential 
appointment  of  every  day's  experience.  Innocent 
people,  in  various  ways,  suffer  for  the  faults  of  the 
guilty.  Men,  by  their  follies,  get  into  difficulties  and 
dangers  which  would  be  fatal  to  them  but  for  the 
help  of  others,  whose  assistance  requires  very  great 
pains  and  labor  and  suffering  on  the  part  of  those 
who  render  it.  The  objection,  therefore,  is  as  much 
against  the  facts  of  daily  life  as  against  Christianity, 
— which  shows  its  fallacy.  Bishop  Butler  well  says 
of  all  such  objectors,  "It  is  indeed  a  matter  of  great 
patience  to  reasonable  men  to  find  people  arguing  in 
this  manner,  objecting  against  the  credibility  of  such 
particular  things  revealed  in  Scripture,  that  they  do 
not  see  the  necessity  or  expediency  of  them.  For 
though  it  is  highly  right,  and  the  most  pious  exercise 
of  our  understanding,  to  inquire  with  due  reverence 
into  the  ends  and  reasons  of  God's  dispensations,  yet 
when  these  reasons  are  concealed,  to  argue  from  our 
ignorance  that  such  dispensations  cannot  be  from 
God,  is  infinitely  absurd.  The  presumption  of  this 
kind  of  objections  seems  almost  lost  in  the  folly  of 
them.     And  the  folly  of  them  is  yet  greater  when 

they  are  urged,  as  usually  they  are,  against  things  in 
20* 


234  Vicarious  Sttffering  honorable. 

Christianity  analogous,  or  like  to,  those  natural  dis- 
pensations of  Providence  which  are  matter  of  expe- 
rience." 

Those  who  object  to  the  justice  of  the  vicarious 
suffering  of  Christ  do  not  consider  that  the  sacrifice 
was  not  a  forced  but  a  voluntary  one.  Christ  gave 
himself  a  ransom  for  us.  His  offering  was  self- 
imposed.  By  his  assumption  of  our  humanity  and 
his  suffering  unto  death  He  has  removed  the  obsta- 
cles out  of  the  way  of  our  salvation.  We  had  no 
claim  upon  Him,  and  by  no  law  was  He  justly  con- 
demned. His  voluntary  acceptance  of  the  work  of 
atonement  has  removed  the  act  altogether  out  of  the 
sphere  of  law,  save  that  of  the  law  of  infinite  good- 
ness. It  is  not  manifested  justice,  but  transcendent 
love,  on  his  part,  which  even  Divine  justice  must 
accept  as  vicarious  and  sufficient. 

Again,  so  far  from  the  idea  of  vicarious  suffering 
being  revolting,  it  commends  itself  to  the  moral 
sense  of  mankind.  The  chief  glory  of  history  is  to 
be  seen  in  deeds  of  self-devotion  and  heroic  self- 
offering.  The  forlorn  hope  is  always  the  central 
point  of  honor.  Leonidas  at  Thermopylae,  Tell  in 
Switzerland,  Winkelried  in  the  Tyrol,  and  Washing- 
ton in  our  own  land,  owe  their  fame  to  the  nobility 
of  self-sacrifice.  To  follow  such  examples,  and  live 
for  others, — suffering  vicariously  for  them  if  need  be, 
— is  the  law  and  condition  of  all  real  greatness  and 
goodness  in  the  world.  In  this  also  Christ  has  set 
us  an  example  that  we  should  follow  Him.  It  is  the 
vicarious  suffering  and  toil  of  a  mother's  love  which 


Vtcarious  Suffering  our  Natural  Condition.  235 

endear  it  to  our  hearts.  It  is  this  which  makes  a 
father's  memory  honorable.  It  is  the  recollection  of 
a  brother's  or  sister's  love,  taking  on  themselves  the 
consequences  of  our  faults,  averting  the  penalties  of 
our  indiscretions,  and  denying  themselves  for  our 
good,  which  makes  the  memory  of  home  so  precious. 
Vicarious  suffering!  It  is  the  natural  condition  of 
our  being!  Shall  we,  then,  question  the  right  of  God 
to  display  in  highest  perfection  that  which  He  has 
ordained  to  be  the  chief  virtue  and  nobility  of  his? 
creatures?  As  He  is  Love  itself,  can  we  honor  Him 
by  denying  Him  the  right  or  the  opportunity  to  dis- 
play his  love  to  man? 

In  a  ver>'  favorable  criticism  of  the  first  edition  of 
this  work  by  Dr.  Whedon  ("Methodist  Quarterly 
Review,"  Oct.,  1872)  we  find  the  following :  "The  suc- 
ceeding chapter,  on  the  doctrine  of  the  Mediator,  is 
fresh  from  his  (the  author's)  standpoint,  but  evades 
the  central  question  how  far  a  satisfaction  of  one 
man's  sin  by  another  man's  suffering  is  reconcilable 
with  our  intuitive  sense  of  absolute  justice.  Does 
not  the  same  intuitive  sense  that  requires  penalty  at 
all  require  that  the  doer  of  the  sin  solely  should  be 
the  sufferer  of  the  penalty  ?"  To  this  objection  the 
three  preceding  paragraphs  may  be  sufficient  answer, 
yet  the  following  remarks  of  Dr.  Hodge,*  in  a  similar 
stram,  may  not  be  inappropriate:  "The  substitution 
of  the  innocent  for  the  guilty,  of  victims  for  trans- 
gressors in  sacrifice,  of  one  for  many,  the  idea  of  ex- 

*  Systematic  Theology,  vol.  ii.  p.  532. 


236  Vicarious  Punishment  Rational. 

piation  by  vicarious  punishment,  has  been  familiar  to 
the  human  mind  in  all  ages.  It  has  been  admitted 
not  only  as  possible,  but  as  rational,  and  recognized 
as  the  only  method  by  which  sinful  men  can  be 
reconciled  to  a  just  and  holy  God.  It  is  not,  there- 
fore, to  be  admitted  that  it  conflicts  with  any  intuition 
of  the  reason  or  of  the  conscience ;  on  the  contrary,  it 
is  congenial  with  both.  It  is  no  doubt  frequently  the 
case  that  opposition  to  this  doctrine  arises  from  a 
misapprehension  of  the  terms  in  which  it  is  expressed. 
By  guilt  many  insist  on  meaning  personal  criminality 
and  ill-desert,  and  by  punishment  evil  inflicted  on  the 
ground  of  such  personal  demerit.  In  these  senses  of 
the  words  the  doctrine  of  satisfaction  and  vicarious 
punishment  would  indeed  involve  an  impossibility. 
The  Remonstrants  were  right  in  saying  that  one  man 
cannot  be  good  with  another's  goodness,  any  more 
than  he  can  be  white  with  another's  whiteness.  And 
if  punishment  means  evil  inflicted  on  the  ground  of 
personal  demerit,  then  it  is  a  contradiction  to  say 
that  the  innocent  can  be  punished.  But  if  guilt  ex- 
presses only  the  relation  of  sin  to  justice,  and  is  the 
obligation  under  which  a  sinner  is  placed  to  satisfy 
its  demands,  then  there  is  nothing  in  the  nature  of 
things,  nothing  in  the  nature  of  God  as  revealed 
either  in  his  providence  or  in  his  word,  which  forbids 
the  idea  that  this  obligation  may  on  adequate  grounds 
be  transferred  from  one  to  another,  or  assumed  by 
one  in  the  place  of  others." 

We  quote  also  from  Rev.  R.  Watson's  "  Theolog- 
ical Institutes,"  vol.  ii.  p.  144 :  "  Generally  speaking,  it 


Vicarious  Punishment  Allowable.  237 

cannot  be  a  matter  of  difficulty  to  conceive  how  the 
authority  of  a  law  may  be  upheld  and  the  justice  of 
its  administration  made  manifest,  even  when  its 
penalty  is  exacted  in  some  other  way  than  the  punish- 
ment of  the  party  offending.  When  the  Locrian 
legislator  voluntarily  suffered  the  loss  of  one  of  his 
eyes  to  save  that  of  his  son  condemned  by  his  own 
statutes  to  lose  both,  and  did  this  that  the  law  might 
neither  be  repealed  nor  exist  without  efficacy,  who 
does  not  see  that  the  authority  of  his  laws  was  as 
much — nay,  more — impressively  sanctioned  than  if  his 
son  had  endured  the  whole  penalty  ?  The  case,  it  is 
true,  has  in  it  nothing  parallel  to  the  work  of  Christ, 
except  in  that  particular  which  it  is  here  adduced  to 
illustrate ;  but  it  shows  that  it  is  not,  in  all  cases, 
necessary  for  the  upholding  of  a  firm  government 
that  the  offender  himself  should  be  punished.  This 
is  the  natural  mode  of  maintaining  authority,  but 
not,  in  all  cases,  the  only  one ;  and  in  that  of  the  re- 
demption of  man  we  see  the  wisdom  of  God  in  its 
brightest  manifestation  securing  this  end,  and  yet 
opening  to  man  the  door  of  hope." 

It  has  often  been  said  that  true  religion  is  nothing 
but  common  sense  applied  to  the  affairs  of  the  soul; 
and  the  more  carefully  the  doctrines  of  Christianity 
are  investigated  and  compared,  the  more  clearly  will 
they  be  seen  to  be  consistent  with  the  nature  of  man 
and  the  order  of  the  world  about  us. 

If  Christ  be  indeed  the  Mediator  between  God  and 
man, — i.e.  if  Christianity  be  true;  if  He  be  indeed 
our  Lord,  our  Saviour,  and  our  God, — the  careless 


238  Warning. 

disregard  of  tnese  high  relations,  as  well  as  the  obsti- 
nate rejection  of  them,  may  lead  to  fatal  consequences. 
If  neglect  of  industry  and  prudence  leads  to  poverty; 
if  neglect  of  remedies  and  means  may  issue  in  death ; 
the  neglect  of  Christ's  mediation  may  end  in  eternal 
ruin.  Let  us,  then,  be  wise  while  we  may.  "If  thou 
art  wise,  thou  shalt  be  wise  for  thyself;  but  and  if 
thou  scornest,  thou  alone  shalt  bear  it." 


CHAPTER   IX. 

THE  FAITH-FACULTY  IN  MAN. 


"  For  what  man  knoweth  the  things  of  a  man,  save  the  spirit  of  man 
which  is  in  him?  Even  so  the  things  of  God  knoweth  no  man,  but  the 
Spirit  of  God."  St.  Paul. 


(239) 


CONTENTS. 

Spiritual  Functions  in  Man — Provision  made  for  these  Functions-w- 
Bible  Doctrine  of  the  Holy  Spirit  and  its  Influence — The  Test  of 
Real  Christianity — Proof  of  Spiritual  Faculties  from  the  Yearnings 
of  the  Human  Mind — Heathen  Oracles,  Divination,  and  Magic — 
These  revived  in  Spiritualism — Effects  analogous  to  Catalepsy,  etc. 
— Spiritual  Influences  taught  in  Scripture,  yet  Divine  Knowledge 
only  from  the  Divine  Spirit — Scripture  Condemnation  of  Divina- 
tion and  Necromancy — Reasons  for  such  Condemnation — Divine 
Communications  and  Mental  Exaltation  distinguished — Tests  of 
Divine  Experiences. 


(240) 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE   FAITH-FACULTY   IN   MAN. 

In  the  foregoing  chapters  we  considered  the  spiritual 
world  as  distinct  from  the  physical,  yet  manifesting 
itself  to  man's  intellectual  nature  by  means  of  laws 
and  forces  which  are  peculiar,  but  whose  consistency 
with  the  arrangement  of  the  visible  universe  exhibits 
the  stamp  of  the  same  designing  intellect  whose  traces 
we  mark  in  the  ordering  of  material  things.  The 
laws  of  life  and  mental  phenomena  evidently  pertain 
only  tor  a  special  order  of  beings,  and  require  for  their 
origin  as  well  as  for  their  elucidation  something  ex- 
traneous from,  and  additional  to,  the  matter  with 
which  it  is  only  temporarily  united.  Metals  and 
stones  do  not  live.  The  hand,  the  eye,  the  ear,  and 
other  organs,  are  not  conscious  of  sensation  or  voli- 
tion, but  are  merely  recipients,  conductors,  or  in- 
struments of  sensation  and  volition.  The  sensitive, 
willing  being  is  the  immaterial  soul.  We  traced  the 
functions  or  faculties  of  this  immaterial  nature  from 
the  most  elementary  consciousness  of  its  connection 
with  corporeal  structure,  and  of  physical  conditions, 
to  its  agency  upon  immaterial  ideas;  recognizing 
them  by  Perception,  retaining  them  by  Memory, 
combining  them  by  Imagination,  comparing  and 
deciding  respecting  them  by  Judgment.  Conscience 
21  (  241  ) 


242  Provision  for  Spinfual  Functions. 

and  Volition  we  considered  as  the  highest  functions 
of  our  spirits,  bringing  us  into  relations  with  the 
spiritual  world,  and  giving  us  dominion  over  our  own 
powers.  We  have  seen,  also,  that  mankind  from  the 
earliest  ages  of  the  world  has  been  in  possession  of 
ideas  and  knowledge  which  could  not  have  been 
innate,  since  they  are  not  universal,  and  which  neither 
sensational  nor  psychological  experience  is  capable 
of  communicating,  but  which  claim  origin  in  Divine 
revelation.  The  same  originating  power  by  which 
matter  was  created  and  impressed  with  forces  appro- 
priate to  its  nature — cohesion,  gravity,  motion,  elec- 
tricity, etc.,  whether  these  are  modifications  of  a 
single  force  or  otherwise — has  also  impressed  mind 
with  ideas  and  impulses  peculiar  to  itself,  and  from 
the  beginning  of  the  world  has  ordained  means  and 
appliances  for  mental  improvement,  and  remedial 
measures  for  spiritual  restoration. 

We  find  abundant  evidence  that  man  has  other 
faculties  besides  those  which  relate  to  the  world  of 
sense  and  to  the  ideas  of  his  own  mind.  Conscience, 
or  the  faith-faculty,  rises  to  higher  themes  than  mere 
intellectuality  or  expediency.  It  implies  a  receptivity 
of  special  spiritual  influences.  It  takes  cognizance 
of  God, — the  invisible  Supreme, — and  of  man's  rela- 
tions to  God.  Whether  we  consider  it  a  single 
faculty,  or  a  combination  of  faculties,  its  existence 
among  men  proves  the  inspirational  capacity  of  the 
soul.  There  are  spiritual  functions  in  human  nature 
which  render  possible  the  subjective  evidence  of 
spiritual  experience.     These  spiritual  functions  find 


Man's  Fall  and  Restoration.  243 

appropriate  provision  in  supernatural  impressions  or 
impulses,  as  well  as  in  intellectual  conceptions  revealed 
by  the  Spirit  of  God.  So  far  as  the  order  of  nature 
has  been  observed,  no  instance  of  natural  want  has 
been  met  with  which  is  not  provided  for  in  the  econ- 
omy of  the  universe.  Man's  spiritual  necessities  and 
yearnings  are  no  exception  to  this  law.  The  religious 
nature  may  remain  dormant  for  lack  of  its  appro- 
priate stimulus,  or  for  want  of  proper  conditions  of 
development,  or  it  may  be  entirely  blighted  or  de- 
stroyed,— as  the  life  of  a  seed  may  remain  dormant 
for  years  or  become  totally  extinct;  or,  being  in- 
structed by  the  Divine  word,  the  soul  may  be  lifted 
heavenwards  by  penitential  desire  and  faith,  and  re- 
ceive the  quickening,  inspiring,  and  developing  energy 
of  the  Divine  Spirit.  To  this  religious  nature  Kant 
refers  when  he  says  that  "a  rational  theology  can 
have  no  existence  unless  it  is  founded  upon  the  laws 
of  morality." 

The  Bible  teaches  that  man  received  his  spiritual 
faculties  from  the  Divine  inbreathing,  and,  although 
by  transgression  he  lost  his  original  image  of  right- 
eousness, and  the  consciousness  of  God's  favor,  he 
is  still  capable  of  receiving  Divine  communications. 
The  fallen  creature  can  still  hear  the  voice  of  Jehovah, 
and  the  capability  of  spiritual  restoration  is  implied 
by  all  the  warnings  and  promises  of  Holy  Writ.  To 
make  that  restoration  possible  was  the  great  object 
of  the  work  of  redemption  by  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
which  procured  for  us  not  only  the  offer  of  forgive- 
ness for  past  guilt,  but  the  gracious  aid  of  the  Holy 


244  Test  of  Real  Christianity. 

Spirit,  who  is  the  true  quickener  and  restorer  of  the 
spiritually  dead.  Thus  it  was  possible  for  Enoch  to 
have  such  conscious  communings  with  heaven,  and 
so  to  live  up  to  the  behests  of  his  highest  nature,  that 
it  is  said  of  him  "he  walked  with  God."  Thus  God's 
Spirit  strove  with  the  sinful  antediluvians  in  the  days 
of  Noah.  Thus  in  every  age  we  read  of  Divine  help 
for  human  weakness,  —  the  Holy  Spirit  given  to 
write  God's  laws  upon  men's  hearts  and  bring  them 
into  communion  with  himself  When  the  work  of 
redemption  was  complete,  by  the  offering  up  of  the 
body  of  Christ  once  for  all,  the  ministration  of  the 
Spirit  became  the  principal  object  of  revelation;  it 
was  therefore  fitting  that  the  fullness  of  time  should 
be  marked  by  such  a  display  of  spiritual  phenomena 
as  was  witnessed  on  the  day  of  Pentecost,  when  the 
rushing  wind  and  cloven  tongues  symbolized  the 
power  communicated  from  above.  (Acts,  ii.)  This 
manifestation  of  Divine  power  was  not  confined  to 
the  apostles,  but  was  experienced  by  all  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  Christian  church  who  were  present, 
male  and  female,  young  and  old.  (Acts,  ii.  17,  18.) 
Similar  occurrences  in  the  early  history  of  the  church, 
— as  in  the  case  of  Cornelius,  of  the  disciples  of 
John,  etc., — and  many  passages  of  Scripture,  prove 
that  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit  is  the  privilege  of  all 
real  Christians. 

The  direct  communication  of  the  Divine  Spirit  to 
the  individual  heart,  or  religious  nature,  is  the  experi- 
mentum  crucis  of  real  Christianity.  So  palpable  is 
this  influence  in  those  who  comply  with  the  condi- 


Effects  of  Divine  Influence.  245 

tions  laid  down  that  the  illustrative  imagery  of  the 
Scriptures  is  of  the  strongest  possible  kind.  It  is 
called  a  new  birth,  a  new  creation,  a  resurrection 
from  the  death  t>f  sin,  a  transformation,  an  indwelling, 
etc.,  and  the  strongest  sensations  are  figuratively 
transferred  to  the  spiritual  sphere,  as  in  the  Psalmist's 
exclamation,  "O  taste  and  see  that  the  Lord  is  good  : 
blessed  is  the  man  that  trusteth  in  Him." 

The  necessary  conditions  of  this  Divine  influence 
are  a  voluntary  repudiation  of  impurity  and  sin,  and 
acceptance  of  righteousness;  prayer,  or  an  earnest 
impulse  of  the  spiritual  nature  towards  God;  and  a 
confident  trust  in  the  Divine  plan  of  mediation.  The 
essential  elements  of  these  conditions  may  exist  in 
minds  which  in  other  respects  are  unenlightened  and 
superstitious.  They  were  present  in  the  woman  who 
ignorantly  thought  that  to  touch  the  hem  of  Christ's 
garment  would  be  the  proper  conduit  of  supernatural 
power.  They  existed  in  many  before  the  coming  of 
Christ,  and  among  the  heathen  also,  as  in  the  case 
of  Cornelius,  the  Syrophenician  woman,  and  others. 
Jesus  declared  that  men  from  all  parts  of  the  world 
should  be  accepted  and  saved,  while  those  to  whom 
He  was  plainly  preached  would  in  many  instances 
be  cast  out. 

The  principal  effects  of  the  influence  of  the  Holy 

Spirit  upon  the  soul  are  a  consciousness  of  the  Divine 

presence  and  favor,  a  conformity  of  the  affections  and 

will  to  the  requirements  of  revelation,  and  a  sort  of 

exaltation  and   energetic   action  of  all    the    mental 

faculties.     This  last  effect  is  a  consequence  of  the 
21a 


246  Heathenism  a  Parody  on  Truth. 

simplicity  and  frankness  and  directness  of  aim  which 
are  inseparable  from  true  piety.  "  If  thine  eye  be 
single,"  said  Christ,  *'  thy  whole  body  shall  be  full  of 
light." 

As  a  matter  of  course,  the  reality  of  such  influence, 
in  any  given  case,  is  a  question  of  experience  or  of 
testimony.  As  a  sensation  cannot  be  explained  in 
words,  or  as  the  mental  nature  has  no  conception  of 
an  idea  until  it  enters  the  sphere  of  consciousness,  so 
an  impression  upon  the  spiritual  nature  must  be  ex- 
perienced in  order  to  be  known.  Each  must  know 
it  for  himself  Whether  others  have  such  experience 
must  be  judged  of  by  their  testimony  and  their  fruits; 
for  "by  their  fruits  ye  shall  know  them." 

Apart  from  the  teachings  of  the  Scriptures  and  the 
testimony  of  individual  experience,  proof  of  the  ex- 
istence of  such  faculties  as  we  have  described,  and 
which  are  presupposed  by  the  biblical  doctrine  of 
the  agency  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  is  found  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  human  mind  and  its  yearnings,  through 
all  the  ages.  It  is  certain  that  men  of  every  degree 
of  intellectual  culture,  in  every  period  of  history, 
have  sought  for  spiritual  impulses  from  a  source 
outside  of  the  sphere  of  the  intellect.  The  dceinon 
of  Socrates  was  not  a  baseless  notion,  but  had  origin 
in  the  conscious  want  of  an  inquiring  mind.  As  the 
memory  of  the  early  Divine  revelations  to  the  Patri- 
archs could  not  immediately  fade  away  from  the 
minds  of  men,  we  find  the  heathen  nations  who  had 
corrupted  the  truth  not  only  endeavoring  to  trans- 
mit the  traditions  of  those  communications  in  poetry 


Revival  of  Heathenism  in  Spiritualism.      247 

aiid  fable,  but  also  seeking  themselves  to  hold  com- 
munion with  the  invisible  world,  establishing  oracles, 
and  inventing  divination  and  magic,  to  support  their 
various  systems  of  superstition  and  idolatry.  The 
oracles  were  the  chapels,  or  residences,  of  their  spir- 
itual mediums, — generally  females, — who  were  sup- 
posed to  be  possessed  with  the  spirits  of  the  gods, 
and  who  went  into  nervous  paroxysms,  and  recited 
fervid  sentences,  often  without  coherence,  but  some- 
times in  regular  poetic  verse.  Magic  was  called 
either  white  magic  or  black  magic,  according  as  they 
claimed  intercourse  with  good  or  bad  spirits.  Divi- 
nation was  the  pretended  art  of  foretelling  future 
events  by  demoniacal  possession,  by  mesmeric  trance, 
by  sacrifices,  by  lots,  or  by  omens.  These  phenom- 
ena were  regarded  by  the  heathen  as  effected  either 
by  the  special  influence  of  their  gods,  or  by  the  spirits 
of  dead  men,  or  by  a  class  of  spiritual  beings  inter- 
mediate between  the  gods  and  men.  A  very  small 
class  of  philosophers  argued  that  they  were  phenom- 
ena natural  to  the  human  mind. 

The  nineteenth  century  has  witnessed  a  remarkable 
revival  of  these  practices  among  civilized  nations. 
The  rationalistic  infidelity  of  Europe,  and  the  pan- 
theism which  it  rendered  popular,  prepared  the  public 
mind  for  the  reception  of  the  grossest  heathenism, 
and  caused  the  delusion  to  be  wide-spread  and  injuri- 
ous. Nothing,  however,  which  spiritualism  (so  called) 
has  developed  has  advanced  beyond  the  daily  prac- 
tices of  the  heathen  world,  both  ancient  and  modern. 
The  treatises  of  lamblichus  and  others  contain  direc- 


248  Neo-platonic  Philosophy. 

tions  for  producing  effects  which  are  a  perfect  parallel 
to  the  doings  of  the  magnetizers  and  spiritualists  of 
the  present  day. 

The  following  extracts  will  exhibit  this  parallelism, 
and  suggest  the  origin  of  some  of  the  theological 
speculations  of  modern  times: 

"An  innate  knowledge  of  the  gods  is  coexistent 
with  our  very  essence;  and  this  knowledge  is  superior 
to  all  judgment  and  deliberate  choice,  and  subsists 
prior  to  reason  and  demonstration.  .  .  . 

'•'The  wise,  therefore,  speak  as  follows:  The  soul 
having  a  twofold  life,  one  being  in  conjunction  with 
body,  but  the  other  being  separate  from  all  body; 
when  we  are  awake  we  employ,  for  the  most  part,  the 
life  which  is  common  with  the  body,  except  when  we 
separate  ourselves  entirely  from  it  by  pure  intellectual 
and  dianoetic  energies.  But  when  we  are  asleep,  we 
are  perfectly  liberated  as  it  were  from  certain  surround- 
ing bonds,  and  use  a  life  separated  from  generation. 
Hence  this  form  of  life,  whether  it  be  intellectual  or 
divine,  and  whether  these  two  are  the  same  thing,  or 
whether  each  is  peculiarly  of  itself  one  thing,  is  then 
excited  in  us,  and  energizes  in  a  way  conformable  to 
its  nature.  Since,  therefore,  intellect  surveys  real 
beings,  but  the  soul  contains  in  itself  the  reasons  of 
all  generated  natures,  it  very  properly  follows  that, 
according  to  a  cause  which  comprehends  future 
events,  it  should  have  a  foreknowledge  of  them,  as 
arranged  in  their  precedaneous  reasons.  And  it 
possesses  a  divination  still  more  perfect  than  this, 
when  it  conjoins  the  portions  of  life  and  intellectual 


Neo-platonic  Philosophy.  249 

energy  to  the  wholes  from  which  it  was  separated. 
For  then  it  is  filled  from  wholes  with  all  scientific 
knowledge;  so  as  for  the  most  part  to  attain  by  its 
conceptions  to  the  apprehension  of  everything  which 
is  effected  in  the  world.  Indeed,  when  it  is  united  to 
the  gods,  by  a  liberated  energy  of  this  kind,  it  then 
receiv^es  the  most  true  plenitudes  of  intellections, 
from  which  it  emits  the  true  divination  of  divine 
dreams,  and  derives  the  most  genuine  principles  of 
knowledge.  But  if  the  soul  connects  its  intellectual 
and  divine  part  with  more  excellent  natures,  then  its 
phantasms  will  be  more  pure,  whether  they  are  phan- 
tasms of  the  gods,  or  of  beings  essentially  incorporeal, 
or,  in  short,  of  things  contributing  to  the  truth  of 
intelligibles.  If,  also,  it  elevates  the  reasons  of  gen- 
erated natures  contained  in  it  to  the  gods,  the  causes 
of  them,  it  receives  power  from  them,  and  a  knowl- 
edge which  apprehends  what  has  been  and  what  will 
be;  it  likewise  surveys  the  whole  of  time,  and  is 
allotted  the  order  of  providentially  attending  to  and 
correcting  them  in  an  appropriate  manner.  And 
bodies,  indeed,  that  are  diseased  it  heals;  but  properly 
disposes  such  things  as  subsist  among  men  errone- 
ously and  disorderly.  It  likewise  frequently  delivers 
the  discoveries  of  arts,  the  distributions  of  justice, 
and  the  establishment  of  legal  institutions.  .  .  . 

"Those  who  energize  enthusiastically  are  not  con- 
scious of  the  state  they  are  in,  and  they  neither  live  a 
human  nor  an  animal  life,  according  to  sense  and  im- 
pulse, but  they  exchange  this  for  a  certain  more  divine 
life,by  which  they  are  inspired  and  perfectly  possessed.** 


250  Defense  of  Heathenism, 

lamblichus  thus  answers  the  objections  of  Porphyry 
that " a  passion  of  the  soul  is  the  cause  of  divination:" 

"That  ' tJie  senses  are  occupied'  therefore  tends  to 
the  contrary  of  what  you  say,  for  it  is  an  indication 
that  no  human  phantasm  is  then  excited.  But  'the 
fumigations  which  are  introduced'  have  an  alliance  to 
divinity,  but  not  to  the  soul  of  the  spectator.  And 
*the  invocations'  do  not  excite  the  inspiration  of  the 
reasoning  power,  or  corporeal  passions  in  the  recipi- 
ent, for  they  are  perfectly  unknown  and  arcane,  and 
are  alone  known  to  the  god  whom  they  invoke.  But 
that  *  not  all  men,  but  those  that  are  more  simple  and 
young  ai'e  more  adapted  to  diviiiation',  manifests  that 
such  as  these  are  more  prepared  for  the  reception  of 
the  externally  acceding  and  inspiring  spirit." 

Proclus  on  Theurgy  (quoted  in  the  notes  in  the 
work  referred  to)  illustrates  sympathy  by  a  piece  of 
heated  paper  inflamed  by  being  placed  near  a  lamp, 
without  contact,  comparing  the  heated  paper  to  a 
certain  relation  of  inferiors  to  superiors,  and  its  ap- 
proximation to  the  lamp  to  the  opportune  use  of 
things ;  the  procession  of  fire  to  the  paper  represents 
the  presence  of  divine  light  to  the  nature  capable  of 
its  reception,  and  "Lastly,  the  inflammation  of  the 
paper  may  be  compared  to  the  deification  of  mortals 
and  to  the  illumination  of  material  natures,  which 
are  afterwards  carried  upwards,  like  the  enkindled 
paper,  from  a  certain  participation  of  divine  seed."* 

The  phenomena  referred  to  are  analogous  to  certain 

*  lamblichus  on  the  Mysteries. 


Angelic  Inflrtences.  251 

morbid  conditions  known  to  medical  science  as  som- 
nambulism, catalepsy,  trance,  and  other  varieties  of 
intense  sleep,  in  which,  the  connection  of  the  mind 
with  the  external  world  by  means  of  the  bodily 
organs  being  suspended,  the  organization  of  the 
individual  is  reflected  in  dreams.  As  we  have  seen 
in  Chapter  VII.,  the  world  of  selfhood  is  then  pres- 
ent to  the  mind  by  the  resuscitation  of  the  dormant 
ideas  of  memory,  the  obscure  suggestions  of  the 
ccensesthesis,  and  the  vagaries  of  physically  directed 
imagination.  Yet,  because  of  its  isolation,  this  dream- 
state  is  well  adapted  to  real  spiritual  inspiration,  and 
is  frequently  referred  to  in  the  Scriptures  as  affording 
the  opportunity  for  Divine  communications. 

Whether  spiritual  communications  such  as  are 
pretended — human,  or  demoniac,  or  angelic — have 
occurred  in  modern  times  is  a  question  which  admits 
of  grave  doubt,  since  no  contribution  to  the  spiritual 
ideas  of  mankind  has  yet  been  promulgated  by  even 
the  most  enthusiastic  among  the  votaries  of  revived 
heathenism.  No  revelation  has  yet  surpassed  "  Moses 
and  the  prophets." 

The  Scriptures  teach  plainly  the  receptive  capacity 
of  man  for  spiritual  impulses.  Angels  are  represented 
as  interested  in  our  welfare  and  as  exerting  an  influ- 
ence in  our  behalf.  They  were  frequent  ministers  of 
revelation  as  well  as  of  special  mercies  and  judg- 
ments, and  are  said  to  be  still  ministering  spirits  unto 
the  heirs  of  salvation.  Evil  spirits,  likewise,  are  rep- 
resented as  having  an  influence  on  men's  minds, 
inciting   to    evil    and    rebellion    against    God.      But 


252     Spiritualism  condemned  by  the  Scriptures, 

neither  good  nor  evil  angels,  nor  even  the  Spirit  of 
God  himself,  are  referred  to  as  having  an  irresistible 
influence.  They  may  incline  or  draw,  but  cannot 
force,  the  soul.  As  to  the  impartation  of  spiritual 
truth,  the  Bible  teaches  that  none  can  reveal  the 
things  of  God  but  the  Spirit  of  God.  "For  what 
man  knoweth  the  things  of  a  man,  save  the  spirit  of 
man  which  is  in  him?  even  so  the  things  of  God 
knoweth  no  man,  but  the  Spirit  of  God."  Thus, 
also,  Jesus  said,  "  No  man  knoweth  the  Father  but 
the  Son,  and  he  to  whom  the  Son  shall  reveal  Him." 
To  seek  a  knowledge  of  the  Divine  will  and  of  spir- 
itual truth  from  intercourse  with  inferior  spirits,  is  to 
reject  and  turn  aside  from  the  revelation  which  God 
has  given.  Hence  the  heathenish  practices  to  which 
we  have  referred  were  distinctly  forbidden.  Moses 
says,  "There  shall  not  be  found  among  you  any 
one  that  useth  divination,  or  an  observer  of  times,  or 
an  enchanter,  or  a  witch,  or  a  charmer,  or  a  consulter 
with  familiar  spirits,  or  a  wizard,  or  a  necromancer. 
For  all  that  do  these  things  are  an  abomination  unto 
the  Lord:  and  because  of  these  abominations  the 
Lord  thy  God  shall  drive  them  out  from  before  thee. 
Thou  shalt  be  perfect  with  the  Lord  thy  God.  For 
these  nations,  which  thou  shalt  possess,  hearkened 
unto  observers  of  times,  and  unto  diviners:  but  as  for 
thee,  the  Lord  thy  God  hath  not  suffered  thee  so  to 
do."  (Deut.  xviii.  10-13.)  In  this  passage  he  men- 
tions eight  different  practices  as  opposed  to  the  teach- 
ing of  Divine  revelation,  viz.,  those  of-  1st,  the  user  of 
divination,  a  mode  of  seeking  knowledge  of  futurity 


The  Hunger  of  the  Soul.  253 

often  employed  among  the  heathen,  three  kinds  of 
which — by  arrows  or  rods,  by  images,  and  by  the 
entrails  of  animals — are  mentioned  by  Ezekiel,  and 
denounced  as  rebellion  against  God;  2d,  the  observer 
of  times,  or  dreams;  3d,  the  enchanter,  or  serpent- 
charmer;  4th,  the  witch,  or  sorceress,  who  divined 
by  means  of  exhilarating  and  poisonous  drugs,  like 
the  mephitic  gas  of  Delphi,  or  the  modern  magician's 
incense;  5th,  the  charmer  by  the  power  of  song, 
which  was  often  resorted  to  as  a  means  of  exalting 
nervous  influence;  6th,  the  consulter  with  familiar 
spirits;  7th,  the  wizard,  or  magician,  who  was  sup- 
posed to  possess  magic  arts  which  gave  supernat- 
ural knowledge;  8th,  the  necromancer,  or  con- 
sulter of  the  spirits  of  the  dead.  Throughout  the 
Scriptures,  a  resort  to  such  abnormal  excitements,  or 
to  communications  with  spirits,  either  real  or  sup- 
posed, for  the  purpose  of  gaining  knowledge  of  the 
future  or  of  the  spiritual  world,  is  plainly  and  strongly 
condemned.  The  reasons  of  this  condemnation  are 
both  intellectual  and  moral.  The  responses  of  spirit- 
ism are  fragmentary,  fanciful,  contradictory,  and 
deceptive,  like  the  imagination  and  mutterings  of  a 
man  intoxicated,  and  the  result  is  darkness  and  in- 
capacity of  mind  and  instability  of  reason.  "When 
they  shall  say  unto  you.  Seek  unto  them  that  have 
familiar  spirits,  and  unto  wizards  that  peep,  and  that 
mutter:  should  not  a  people  seek  unto  their  God? 
for  the  living  to  the  dead?  To  the  law  and  to  the 
testimony:  if  they  speak  not  according  to  this  word, 

it  is  because  there  is  no  light  in  them.     And  they 
22 


254  Elevation  is  not  Inspiration. 

shall  pass  through  it,  hardly  bestead  and  hungry;  and 
it  shall  come  to  pass,  that  when  they  shall  be  hungry, 
they  shall  fret  themselves,  and  curse  their  king  and 
their  God,  and  look  upward.  And  they  shall  look 
unto  the  earth;  and  behold  trouble  and  darkness, 
dimness  of  anguish;  and  they  shall  be  driven  to 
darkness."  (Isa.  viii.  19-22.)  This  passage  exhibits 
the  mental  effects  of  all  such  pursuits. 

The  superstitious  arts  and  practices  alluded  to, 
however  unsatisfactory  or  wrong,  are  nevertheless 
proofs  and  illustrations  of  the  fact  that  man  has  con- 
sciousness of  the  possession  of  a  spiritual  nature, 
capable  of  being  acted  upon  by  impulses  of  a  spirit- 
ual sort.  Hideous  distortions  of  the  truth  though 
they  are,  yet  they  have  a  foundation  in  our  human 
nature.  Properly  interpreted,  they  are  agonizing  and 
pitiable  expressions  of  the  necessity  of  the  soul  wan- 
dering in  darkness  and  feeling  after  God.  They  are 
manifestations  of  want  which  can  be  truly  satisfied 
nowhere  save  in  the  provision  which  God  has  made 
for  the  soul. 

The  tendencies  of  modern  thought  require  us  to 
give  prominence  to  the  scriptural  doctrine  of  a  real 
communion  between  the  soul  of  a  true  Christian  and 
the  Spirit  of  God;  but  we  must  be  careful  to  discrimi- 
nate between  the  communications  of  the  Divine 
Spirit  and  the  exercise  of  our  own  faculties.  The 
superior  faculties  of  man's  nature  will  naturally  in- 
fluence the  inferior,  but  we  may  distinguish  between 
these  effects  and  the  cause  which  produces  them.  In 
the  extraordinary  revelations  to  the  prophets,  pre-. 


The  Scriptural  Test  of  Spiritual  Truth.      255 

paratory  to  Christ's  coming,  there  were  frequent 
accompaniments  of  ecstasies  and  trances,  and  pecuHar 
elevations  of  mind,  and  special  eloquence,  not  the 
same  in  all,  nor  at  all  times.  These  effects  and 
accompaniments  of  central  truth  impressed  the 
senses  of  observers  often  more  than  the  truth  itself, 
so  that  persons  of  lively  or  overheated  imaginations 
were  sometimes  regarded  as  persons  inspired.  Thus 
the  heathen  priests  and  oracles  found  a  ready  soil 
for  the  growth  of  their  systems,  and  their  frenzies, 
trances,  and  clairvoyance,  imitating  and  exaggerating 
the  natural  effects  of  Divine  inspiration,  led  away 
men's  minds  from  truth  to  childish  superstition  and 
heathenism.  Even  when  a  warm  and  enthusiastic 
fancy  is  employed  on  religious  subjects,  and  rises  to 
a  high  pitch  of  excitement,  we  must  not  conclude 
that  it  is  necessarily  impressed  by  the  Spirit  of  God. 
Many  instances  have  been  known  of  persons  who 
have  been  most  eloquent  and  thrilling  in  preaching 
and  exhortation,  and  ardent  in  prayers,  who  were  yet 
destitute  of  all  true  piety  towards  God  or  humanity 
towards  men.  The  witness  of  God's  Spirit  with  our 
spirits  is  addressed  to  our  consciousness  in  a  manner 
peculiarly  its  own.  It  is  not  dependent  upon  the 
varying  moods  or  feelings  of  our  minds,  although  it 
may  so  impress  the  recipient  as  to  beget  even  intense 
excitement.  Christians  may  have  ecstatic  raptures 
and  dreams,  because  they  are  men.  But  a  real 
Christian  may  be  assured,  like  the  Psalmist,  that  even 
if  both  heart  (or  soul)  and  flesh  fail, — if  both  bodily 
and  mental  faculties  should  be  diseased  or  deranged, 


256  Tests  of  Spiritual  Experience, 

— God  is  the  strength  of  his  heart,  and  his  portion 
forever. 

The  difference  between  imagination  and  the  con- 
sciousness of  Divine  favor  is  a  subject  of  great  im- 
portance, as  a  check  to  enthusiasm  on  the  one  hand, 
and  confirmatory  of  a  humble  Christian  faith  on  the 
other.  Imagination  is,  as  we  have  seen  (page  207),  a 
faculty  of  the  spiritual  nature  by  which  we  combine 
ideas  previously  received.  Influential  as  it  is,  and  most 
useful  when  well  directed,  it  cannot  create.  Its  office 
is  wholly  intellectual,  or  pertains  to  the  sphere  of 
ideas.  Its  combinations  may  always  be  represented 
in  words  or  pictures.  No  state  of  consciousness  can 
be  thus  represented.  Every  conscious  sensation  or 
feeling  is  a  matter  of  experience  known  only  to  its 
possessor,  and  cannot  be  explained  to  another.  Here 
lies  the  fallacy  of  those  skeptical  minds  who  seek  for 
verbal  explanations  and  logical  formulae  in  every 
sphere  of  religious  investigation.  As  the  conscious- 
ness of  physical  sensation,  like  the  taste  of  salt  or 
sugar,  or  of  mental  states,  like  memory  or  volition, 
or  of  spiritual  qualities,  as  love,  gratitude,  etc.,  is  its 
own  evidence,  so  likewise  is  the  experience  of  the 
work  of  the  Divine  Spirit.  As  certainly  as  the  an- 
swering telegram  of  a  friend  with  whom  we  correspond 
at  a  distance  by  means  of  electric  wires  is  the  reply 
to  the  prayer  of  faith  from  a  humble,  penitent  heart. 
It  is  a  question  altogether  of  experiment,  and  not 
of  intellectual  imagination  or  deductive  reasoning. 
Again,  imagination  may  be  elevating  to  the  intel- 
lectual nature;  it  may  produce  a  glow  of  feeling, 


Tests  of  Spiritual  Experience.  257 

such  as  is  produced  by  music  or  orator})  or  by  a  con- 
templation of  the  starry  heavens  ;  but  it  cannot  trans- 
form the  moral  nature — it  cannot  change  the  soul 
from  a  sinful  to  a  holy  state.  The  consciousness  of 
Divine  favor  communicated  by  the  Divine  Spirit  is 
hallowing  as  well  as  elevating,  and  the  soul  is  con- 
scious of  it,  so  as  to  realize  with  the  Psalmist:  "As 
far  as  the  east  is  from  the  west,  so  far  hath  God  re- 
moved my  transgressions  from  me." 

We  may  readily  distinguish  between  a  true  child 
of  the  Spirit  and  a  presumptuous  self-deceiver  by 
applying  the  scriptural  test,  "  By  their  fruits  ye  shall 
know  them."  For  all  who  are  truly  of  God  do  the 
works  of  God,  and  the  fruits  of  the  Spirit  are  mani- 
fest in  them:  "love,  joy,  peace,  long-suffering,  gentle- 
ness, meekness,  faith,  temperance,  charity."  If  we  are 
so  happy  as  to  have  such  a  blessed  consciousness  of 
spiritual  experience  as  to  call  God  our  Father, — or, 
to  use  the  expressive  Syriac  word  of  the  apostle, 
"Abba,"  a  word  easy  even  to  stammering  childhood, 
— and  find  the  above-mentioned  fruits  and  graces  in 
our  souls,  the  Spirit  thus  manifested  to  us  will  "seal 
us  unto  the  day  of  redemption,"  "quicken  our  mortal 
bodies,"  and  "reward  our  faithful  use  of  his  few  gifts 
here  with  plentiful  effusions  of  glory  hereafter." 

22* 


CHAPTER    X. 

THE  RESURRECTION. 


"  This  corruptible  must  put  on  incorruption,  and  this  mortal  put  on 
immortality."  St.  Paul. 


(259) 


CONTENTS. 

Idea  of  Resuscitation  not  innate,  nor  taught  by  Nature — Scriptures 
teach  a  Bodily  Resurrection — Ecclesiastical  History  of  the  Doctrine 
— Variety  of  Opinions  from  Alleged  Difficulties — Theory  of  Evolu- 
tion— Views  of  Whately  and  Drew — A  True  Theory  must  embrace 
all  Past  Cases  and  the  Predicted  Change  of  the  Living — The  Small 
Amount  of  Matter  really  belonging  to  our  Bodies — Power  of  Vital 
Affinities  gives  Probability  to  the  Idea  of  Resurrection — No  Real 
Analogy  in  Nature — Analogies  confirmatory  of  the  Predicted 
Change  in  our  Future  Bodies. 


(260) 


OF  THE 

TJNIVERSIT 


CHAPTER    X. 


THE   RESURRECTION. 


The  idea  of  the  resuscitation  of  the  dead  will. not, 
we  think,  be  claimed  as  an  intuition  by  even  the  most 
zealous  advocates  for  that  mode  of  accounting  for  the 
origin  of  our  thoughts.  And  it  is  equally  certain 
that  there  is  nothing  in  nature  capable  of  communi- 
cating such  an  idea  to  our  minds.  The  transforma- 
tion of  the  insect  tribes,  the  growth  of  a  plant  from 
its  seed,  etc.,  although  useful  illustrations  of  the 
difference  between  one  state  of  existence  and  another, 
are  quite  different  from  a  resurrection  from  a  state  of 
death.  It  is  true  that  in  every  age  persons  seemingly 
dead  have  revived;  but  they  were  only  apparently, 
and  not  really,  dead.  We  claim,  therefore,  that  the 
idea  must  have  originated  by  revelation,  and  is, 
therefore,  true. 

The  number  of  passages  in  the  Old  Testament 
Scriptures  which  embody  this  idea  shows  that  it  was 
a  familiar  topic  of  thought  in  the  days  of  primitive 
truth. 

Job  declares,  "I  know  that  my  redeemer  liveth, 
and  that  he  shall  stand  at  the  latter  day  upon  the 
earth :  and  though  after  my  skin  worms  destroy  this 

(261) 


262  A  Patriarchal  Truth. 

body,  yet  in  my  flesh  shall  I  see  God:  whom  I  shall 
see  for  myself,  and  mine  eyes  shall  behold,  and  not 
another;  though  my  reins  be  consumed  within  me."* 

The  antiquity  of  the  book  of  Job  renders  this  pas- 
sage very  remarkable  as  a  record  of  the  patriarchal 
and  primitive  revelation.  Our  translation  of  these 
words  has  passed  through  a  fiery  ordeal  of  criticism; 
yet,  so  far  as  spirit  and  meaning  are  concerned,  it  has, 
we  think,  received  no  improvement.  Some  regard  this 
passage  as  a  strong  expression  of  confidence  in  a 
return  to  worldly  prosperity ;  but  from  the  context  it 
is  evident  that  Job  was  in  expectation  of  a  speedy 
death,  and  desired  these  words  engraved  on  the  rock 
as  an  epitaph. 

Prof  T.  Lewis,  although  evidently  inclined  to  give 
the  text  a  spiritualistic  interpretation,  remarks,  "Job 
says,  'my  redeemer,'  my  next  of  kin;  but  the  whole 
spirit  of  the  solemn  passage  shows  that  it  must  have 
a  wider  significance.  It  is  the  universal  Goel,  the 
next  of  kin  to  humanity.  The  redeemer  is  regarded 
as  standing  in  some  mysterious  relation  to  us  all,  as 
*the  last  man'  of  the  family,  who  stands  over  the  dust 
of  dying  generations,  and  who  will  avenge  our  cause 
against  the  cruel  murderer  of  our  race." 

Job's  reference  to  a  redeemer  or  avenger  on  the 
eve  of  his  expected  death,  seems  to  us  an  unanswer- 
able proof  that  it  is  an  expression  of  personal  faith  in 
the  resurrection  of  his  flesh.  "The  word  is  very 
emphatical  [Goel],  for  it  signifieth  a  kinsman,  near 

*  Job,  xix.  25-27. 


Old  Testament  Teaching.  263 

allied  unto  him,  of  his  own  flesh,  that  will  restore 
him  to  life."* 

In  II.  Kings,  iv.  32-37,  we  have  an  account  of  the 
prophet  Elisha  restoring  the  Shunammite's  son  to 
life;  and  in  II.  Kings,  xiii.  21,  we  read  of  a  dead  man 
living  again  on  touching  the  bones  of  a  buried 
prophet.  These  are  plain  instances  of  the  idea  of  a 
resurrection  in  Old  Testament  times. 

Refer  also  to  Ps.  xvi.  9,  10:  "My  flesh  also  shall 
rest  in  hope.  For  thou  wilt  not  leave  my  soul  in 
hell;  neither  wilt  thou  suffer  thine  Holy  One  to  see 
corruption."  Ps.  xxx.  3 :  "  O  Lord,  thou  hast  brought 
up  my  soul  from  the  grave."  Ps.  xlix.  15  :  "  God  will 
redeem  my  soul  from  the  power  of  the  grave."  Isa. 
xxv.  8 :  "  He  will  swallow  up  death  in  victory."  Isa. 
xxvi.  19:  "Thy  dead  men  shall  live,  together  with 
my  dead  body  shall  they  arise.  Awake  and  sing,  ye 
that  dwell  in  dust:  for  thy  dew  is  as  the  dew  of  herbs, 
and  the  earth  shall  cast  out  the  dead."  Ezek.  xxxvii. 
I-12, — the  vision  of  the  valley  of  dry  bones:  "I  will 
open  your  graves,  and  cause  you  to  come  up  out  of 
your  graves,"  etc.  Dan.  xii.  2:  "Many  of  them  that 
sleep  in  the  dust  of  the  earth  shall  awake,"  etc.  Hos. 
xiii.  14:  "I  will  ransom  them  from  the  power  of  the 
grave;  I  will  redeem  them  from  death:  O  death,  I 
will  be  thy  plagues;  O  grave,  I  will  be  thy  destruc- 
tion," etc. 

We  are  aware  that  some  of  these  passages  refer 
chiefly  to  a  restoration  from  temporal  calamity;  but 

*  Legh's  Critica  Sac«:a- 


264  ^^'^  Testament  Teaching. 

the  foundation  for  such  reference  is  the  idea  of  a 
resurrection.  "An  image  which  is  assumed  in  order 
to  express  anything  in  the  way  of  allegory,  whether 
poetical  or  prophetical,  must  be  an  image  commonly 
known  and  understood,  otherwise  it  will  not  answer 
the  purpose  for  which  it  is  assumed."* 

The  doctrine  of  the  resurrection  of  the  dead  is 
plainly  and  frequently  taught  and  alluded  to  in  the 
New  Testament.  Christ  himself,  and  the  apostles, 
often  referred  to  it  as  a  fundamental  truth  of  the 
Christian  religion;  and  the  raising  of  Jairus's  daugh- 
ter, of  the  son  of  the  widow  of  Nain,  of  Lazarus,  and 
of  the  saints  whose  bodies  arose  at  the  time  of  the 
crucifixion  of  Jesus,  were  demonstrations  of  its  possi- 
bility. The  resurrection  of  Christ  himself  is  asserted 
to  be  the  model  of  the  future  resurrection  of  his 
people.  He  is  "the  first-fruits  of  them  that  slept," 
as  the  Jewish  first-fruits  were  a  pledge  and  specimen 
of  the  coming  harvest.  He  is  to  "  change  our  vile 
bodies,  and  make  them  like  unto  his  own  glorious 
body,  according  to  the  working  whereby  He  is  able 
to  subdue  all  things  unto  himself"  Vast  and  myste- 
rious as  it  will  be,  it  is  not  deemed  incredible  by 
Christians  "that  God  should  raise  the  dead;"  and  so 
important  is  this  doctrine  to  the  integrity  of  the 
Christian  scheme  that  it  is  said  the  apostles  "preached 
Jesus  and  the  resurrection." 

In  the  original  Greek  of  the  New  Testament,  four 
words  are  used  to  express  this  rising  up  again  of  the 

*  Wemyss's  Symbol  Dictionary. 


History  of  Opinion  in  the  Church.  265 

dead  body, — avdaxaaiq,  and  its  corresponding  verb, 
dviffrr^iu ;  syepffiq  and  kysiput.  The  first  of  these  is  used 
thirty-eight  times,  the  second  thirty-one  times,  the 
third  once,  and  the  fourth  seventy-five  times,  where 
the  context  requires  us  to  associate  it  with  the  resus- 
citation of  the  dead  body.  They  are  also  used  to 
express  the  new  Hfe  of  the  regenerated,  or  a  spiritual 
resurrection  from  sin  to  holiness,  the  first  three  times, 
the  second  once,  and  the  fourth  six  times.  The  idea 
of  a  spiritual  resurrection,  however,  is  based  upon 
and  implies  a  literal  one ;  and  the  apostle  expressly 
combats  the  views  of  those  who  restrict  the  resurrec- 
tion to  the  soul  and  affirm  that  the  resurrection  was 
past  already,  thereby  overthrowing  the  faith  of  some. 
(II.  Tim.  ii.  18.) 

At  a  very  early  period  in  the  history  of  the  Chris- 
tian church  a  speculating  tendency  was  observable, 
growing  out  of  the  teachings  of  Grecian — especially 
the  Platonic — philosophy.  The  Apostle  Paul  speaks 
of  it  in  his  epistles,  and  particularly  warns  Timothy 
to  avoid  it.  I.  Tim.  vi.  20.  The  Docetae,  as  they 
were  called,  were  the  forerunners  of  the  Gnosti€s, 
and  were  especially  opposed  by  the  Apostle  John. 
I.  John,  i.  1-3,  ii.  22,  iv.  2;  II.  John,  7.  Ignatius 
also  wrote  against  them  subsequently  in  his  epistles 
to  the  Ephesians  and  to  the  Smyrnians.  They  main- 
tained the  divinity  of  Christ,  but  volatilized  his 
human  nature  into  a  mere  phantom,  teaching  that 
He  acted  and  suffered  not  in  reality  but  in  appear- 
ance. What  Docetism  did  in  the  doctrine  concerning 
Christ  alone,  the  more  completely  developed  system 

23 


266  History  of  Opinion  in  the  Church. 

of  Gnosticism  carried  out  in  its  whole  spiritualizing 
tendency.  It  opposed  the  spiritualistic  to  the  literal, 
the  ideal  to  the  real,  in  its  interpretation  of  Scripture 
truth.  To  resolve  history  into  myths,  to  dissipate 
positive  doctrines  by  speculation,  and  thus  make  an 
aristocratic  distinction  between  those  who  only  be- 
lieve and  those  who  know;  to  overrate  ktiozvledge, 
especially  that  which  is  ideal  and  speculative  in  reli- 
gion,— these  were  the  principal  features  of  Gnos- 
ticism. It  is  necessary  to  refer  to  this  tendency 
to  speculation  in  order  to  appreciate  the  force  and 
applicability  of  the  expressions  of  the  early  Christian 
authors. 

The  Apostles'  Creed  was  perhaps  the  earliest  ex- 
pression (symbol)  of  the  Christian  faith  in  a  condensed 
form.  Ambrose,  in  the  fourth  century,  attributes 
it  to  the  twelve  apostles.  The  phrase  in  the  creed, 
**  The  resurrection  of  the  body,"  before  a.d.  600  read, 
"The  resurrection  of  the  flesh;"  and  "it  is  said  of 
the  ancient  recitation  that  when  they  came  to  the 
clause,  *  Credo  carnis  reswrectionem^  it  was  recited 
with  a  gesture,  the  hand  pointing  to  the  body,  as 
though  each  one  declared  for  himself, '  I  believe  in  the 
resurrection  of  this  body.'"* 

This  testimony  is  important,  as  showing  that  at 
that  early  day  the  resurrection  of  the  flesh  was  re- 
garded as  synonymous  with  the  resurrection  of  the 
dead. 

Most  of  the  Fathers  believed  in  the  resuscitation 

*  Noldius,  Concord.  Heb.  Part.,  quoted  by  Prof.  Lewis. 


History  of  Opinion  in  the  Church.  267 

of  the  body,  and  of  the  very  same  body  which  man 
possessed  while  on  earth.  Clement  of  Rome,  sup- 
posed to  have  been  a  fellow-laborer  with  Paul  (Phil. 
iv.  3),  and  one  of  Rome's  first  bishops,  in  his  First 
Epistle  to  the  Corinthians  argues  largely  in  its  favor 
from  the  analogies  of  nature, — the  change  of  day  and 
night,  seed  and  fruit,  the  phoenix,  etc.  Ignatius  and 
Polycarp,  in  their  epistles,  also  refer  to  the  same  doc- 
trine. Justin  Martyr  (a.d.  89)  also  adopts  the  literal 
interpretation,  and  shows  that  Christianity  differs  from 
the  systems  of  either  Pythagoras  or  Plato,  in  that  it 
teaches  not  only  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  but  also 
the  resurrection  of  the  body.  Athenagoras  (last  half 
of  the  second  century)  argues  for  it  from  a  variety  of 
considerations,  and  answers  the  objection  drawn  from 
the  elements  of  one  organism  entering  into  the  com- 
position of  another,  by  advancing  the  idea  that  at  the 
resurrection  all  things  will  be  restored.  Theophilus 
(Bishop  of  Antioch,  a.d.  170)  uses  similar  language. 
Irenaeus  (the  disciple  of  Polycarp,  a.d.  177)  also 
asserts  the  identity  of  the  future  with  the  present 
body,  and  appeals  to  the  analogous  revivification  (not 
new  creation)  of  separate  organs  of  the  body  in  some 
of  the  miraculous  cures  performed  by  Christ, — e.g, 
of  the  blind  man,  and  the  man  with  the  withered 
hand.  Tertullian  (a.d.  160)  wrote  a  work  entitled 
De  Resurrectione  Camis,  in  which  he  made  use  of 
preceding  arguments,  and  acutely  pointed  out  the 
intimate  connection  between  body  and  soul  in  the 
present  life;  using  this  to  strengthen  his  position. 
The  Alexandrian  school  of  writers  was  distinguished 


268  History  of  Opinion  in  the  Church. 

by  a  strong  leaning  to  speculation  and  allegorical 
interpretation  of  Scripture.  Clement  of  Alexandria 
(a.d.  212)  merely  touches  upon  this  doctrine,  without 
discussing  it;  but,  as  in  one  place  he  represents  the 
future  deliverance  of  the  soul  from  the  fetters  of  the 
body  as  most  desirable,  his  orthodoxy  has  been  ques- 
tioned. His  disciple,  Origen  (died  a.d.  254),  main- 
tained that  we  may  put  our  trust  in  Christ  without 
believing  the  resurrection  of  the  body,  provided  we 
hold  fast  the  immortality  of  the  soul.  Nevertheless 
he  defended  the  resurrection  against  Celsus  and  the 
Arabians,  but  rejected  the  identity  of  the  bodies,  and 
argued  that  every  body  must  be  adapted  to  its  cir- 
cumstances,— the  heavenly  state  demanding  heavenly 
bodies,  like  Moses  and  Elias. 

The  Gnostics  believed  in  the  immortality  of  the 
soul,  but  their  notions  concerning  matter  made  them 
shrink  from  the  idea  of  a  reunion  of  the  body  with 
the  soul,  and  led  them  to  reject  the  doctrine  of  a 
resurrection.  Thus  Apelles  maintained  that  the  work 
of  Christ  had  reference  only  to  the  soul,  and  rejected 
a  resurrection  of  the  body.  The  false  teachers  of 
Arabia,  whom  Origen  combated,  asserted  that  both 
soul  and  body  fall  into  a  sleep  at  death,  from  which 
they  will  not  awake  till  the  last  day. 

Methodius  (Bishop  of  Lycia,  died  a.d.  311)  com- 
bated Origen's  idealistic  doctrine  of  the  resurrection ; 
yet  several  of  the  Eastern  theologians  adopted  it,  as 
Gregory  of  Nazianzum  (Bishop  of  Constantinople, 
died  A.D.  390)  and  Gregory  of  Nyssa  (a.d.  394),  who 
considered  the  soul  as  the  breath  of  the  Almighty, 


History  of  Opinion  in  the  Church.  269 

ai-i  deliverance  from  the  body  as  the  most  essential 
pou^t  of  future  happiness.  Chrysostom  (a.d.  344), 
thoL^gh  asserting  the  identity  of  the  body,  kept  close 
to  the  doctrine  of  St.  Paul,  and  maintained  a  differ- 
ence between  the  present  and  the  future  body.  Epi- 
phanius  (a.d.  404),  Theophilus  of  Alexandria,  and 
Jerome  (died  a.d.  420)  were  representatives  of  the 
anti-Origenist  party.  The  latter  went  so  far  as  to  say 
that  in  the  resurrection  even  our  hair  and  teeth  will 
not  be  wanting.  Augustine  (Bishop  of  Hippo,  died 
A.D.  430),  in  the  earlier  part  of  his  life,  believed  in  a 
literal  resurrection,  but  endeavOVed  to  make  it  accord 
with  Platonic  and  Alexandrian  views.*  In  after-life 
he  adopted  more  sensuous  notions,  and  entered  upon 
the  question  of  the  stature,  age,  etc.  of  the  resurrec- 
tion bodies. 

The  opinion  of  Origen  was  condemned  by  the 
decisions  of  synods,  after  which  a  controversy  ensued 
between  Eutychius,  Patriarch  of  Constantinople,  and 
Gregory  the  Great,  Bishop  of  Rome  (died  a.d.  604) 
as  to  whether  the  resurrection  body  was  "impalpa- 
bilis;"  and  also  a  discussion  between  the  Mono- 
physitic  Philoponites  and  the  Cononites  whether  the 
resurrection  was  to  be  considered  as  a  new  creation 
of  matter  or  as  a  mere  transformation.  This  latter 
grew  out  of  the  Aristotelian  principle  that  matter 
and  form  are  inseparable,  and  are  both  destroyed 
with  the  death  of  the  body.     One  view  condemned 

*  "  In  coelestibus  nullo  caro,  sed  corpora  simplicia  et  lucida." — De 
Fide  et  Symb. 
23* 


270  Modem  Views  of  Resurrection. 

as  Origenistic  was  that  the  resurrection  body  will  be 
spherical,  as  being  most  perfect;  another,  that  the 
bodies  will  at  some  future  time  be  annihilated. 

From  the  time  of  Jerome  and  Augustine,  the 
resurrection  of  the  body  with  all  its  component  parts 
was  regarded  as  the  orthodox  doctrine  of  the  Cath:.lic 
church.  The  Bogomiles,  Cathari,  and  others,  how- 
ever, revived  the  notion  of  the  Gnostics,  who,  looking 
on  matter  as  the  seat  of  sin,  rejected  the  idea  of  a 
resurrection.  The  ecclesiastical  doctrine  was  defended 
by  Moneta  (of  Cremona,  a.d.  1220),  a  Dominican 
monk,  and  was  further  developed  into  particulars  by 
the  scholastics,  especially  by  Thomas  Aquinas  (a.d. 
1224),  with  many  strange  conjectures  respecting  the 
nature  of  the  resurrection  body. 

In  more  recent  times  this  doctrine  has  given  rise 
to  various  opinions.  Dr.  Priestley  endeavored  to  re- 
concile the  scriptural  doctrine  of  a  resurrection  with 
the  philosophical  idea  of  immortality,  by  supposing 
that  there  is  a  particular  organ  of  the  soul  which 
develops  itself  in  the  hour  of  death.  Samuel  Drew 
revived  the  notion  of  the  Jewish  rabbins  that  there 
is  a  particular  part  of  the  body  which  is  indestructible, 
and  from  which  the  future  body  will  be  developed, 
like  a  plant  from  a  seed.  Swedenborg  rejected  the 
doctrine  of  the  resurrection,  as  founded  upon  too 
literal  an  interpretation  of  Scripture,  teaching  that  in 
fact  the  resurrection  and  the  general  judgment  have 
already  taken  place,  and  that  after  death  men  con- 
tinue to  live  as  men  the  righteous  as  angels).  Prof. 
Bush   teaches   the    development  or   evolution   of   a 


Cause  of  Variety  of  Opinions.  271 

spiritual  body  from  the  natural  one  at  deaths  which 
he  terms  the  resurrection. 

Archbishop  Whately  and  Dr.  Hitchcock  have 
maintained  that  the  future  body  will  not  consist  of 
the  same  particles,  but  of  the  same  chemical  elements, 
arranged  in  the  same  form,  and  argue  its  identity 
from  the  change  of  particles  which  is  continually 
going  on  in  our  bodies  during  life  without  changing 
their  identity. 

The  creeds  or  summaries  of  doctrine  of  modern 
churches  or  'organized  religious  bodies  uniformly 
contain  a  distinct  avowal  of  their  belief  in  a  bodily 
resurrection.  Perhaps  the  only  exceptions  are  the 
Swedenborgians,  the  Shakers,  and  the  Spiritualists. 

The  variety  of  opinions  respecting  the  resurrection, 
among  those  who  admit  the  Divine  authority  of  the 
Scriptures,  arises  from  a  consideration  of  the  physical 
difficulties  alleged  against  it,  such  as  the  entire  disso- 
lution of  the  body  into  its  original  elements,  the 
dissemination  of  these  elements  throughout  the  world, 
and  the  entering  of  these  elements  into  the  bodies  of 
other  animals  or  men. 

Those  who  hold  the  most  literal  idea  of  a  bodily 
resurrection  believe  that  each  particle  is  under  Divine 
supervision,  and  is  preserved  from  forming  any  essen- 
tial part  of  other  organized  bodies  until  its  reunion 
with  the  spirit.  To  a  believer  in  a  personal  Creator, 
such  as  the  Scriptures  reveal,  there  is  no  incredibility 
in  this  view.  The  Divine  omnipotence  and  the  Divine 
superintendence  answer  all  objections.  A  laudable 
desire,  however,  to  remove  the  difficulties  out  of  the 


272         Traces  of  the  Idea  in  Ancient  Times. 

way  o(  faith  encourages  the  adoption  of  any  theory 
which  seems  to  meet  the  requirements  of  Scripture 
lano-uasre  and  at  the  same  time  avoids  the  objections 
to  which  allusion  has  been  made. 

The  Swedenborgian  idea,  and  that  of  Prof.  Bush, 
respecting  the  evolution  of  a  spiritual  or  rarefied 
body  at  death,  contradict  totally  the  idea  of  a  resur- 
rection, which  is  the  living  again  of  the  dead  body. 
This  idea,  as  we  have  seen,  existed  from  primitive 
times,  and  entered  into  the  traditions  of  all  nations. 
The  raising  of  the  body  of  Osiris  in  the  Egyptian 
mythology,  the  metempsychosis  of  the  Eastern  na- 
tions, the  Grecian  story  of  Proserpine  and  Ceres,  with 
the  rites  and  mysteries  founded  upon  it,  and  the  fable 
of  the  Phoenix,  are  but  variously  colored  pictures  of 
this  truth  as  received  from  the  fathers  of  the  human 
race.  Plato  declared  that  "it  is  an  original  tradition 
that  souls  go  from  hence,  and  again  return  hither  and 
arise  from  the  dead."*  The  biblical  record  refers  to 
this  idea  so  often  and  so  emphatically  as  to  admit  of 
no  question  as  to  its  meaning.  The  Apostle  Paul 
could  not  condemn  the  idea  of  evolution  more  plainly 
than  he  has  done  in  II.  Timothy,  ii.  i8.  No  method 
of  interpretation  which  would  not  be  fatal  to  all  the 
distinctive  ideas  of  revelation  can  apply  the  term 
resurrection  to  anything  else  than  the  body  which 
dies  and  is  buiied  in  the  grave. 

The  view  of  Archbishop  Whately,  Prof  Hitchcock, 
and  others,  that  the  resurrection  will  consist  in  re- 

*  T.  Lewis's  Platonic  Theology,  p   331. 


Theories  of  Identity.  2J7, 

building  a  new  body  from  the  same  chemical  elements, 
arranged  after  the  same  laws,  and  in  the  same  form, 
but  with  great  change  of  properties,  commends  itself 
to  scientific  men  by  its  conformity  with  chemical  and 
physiological  laws;  yet  it  is  a  serious  objection  that 
the  idea  of  a  real  resurrection  is  lost  sight  of  in  this 
theory.  It  is  rather  a  theory  of  a  new  creation  than 
of  a  resurrection.  The  adherents  of  this  view,  how- 
ever, reply  that  the  Bible  was  not  given  to  gratify 
scientific  curiosity,  or  to  explain  the  manner  of  phe- 
nomena, and  that  the  doctrine  of  the  resurrection  of 
the  body  simply  means  the  reunion  of  the  soul  with 
a  material  body. 

The  opinion  of  Mr.  Samuel  Drew,  adopted  by 
Dr.  A.  Clarke  and  others,  has  had  quite  an  extensive 
acceptance.  This  claims  that  there  is  a  certain  part 
of  the  body  which  is  essential  to  the  identity  of  the 
body,  and  which  is  indestructible,  and  from  which 
the  resurrection  body  will  be  developed.  Mr.  Drew 
says,  "Some  radical  particles  must  be  fixed  within 
us,  which  constitute  our  sameness  through  all  the 
mutations  of  life;  and  which,  remaining  in  a  state  of 
incorruptibility,  shall  put  forth  a  germinating  power 
beyond  the  grave,  and  be  the  germ  of  our  future 
bodies."  He  sums  up  the  various  theories  of  per- 
sonal identity  as  follows:  i.  Those  particles  which 
compose  the  body  of  an  infant.  2.  The  numerical 
particles  which  compose  our  bodies  at  any  given 
period.  3.  The  modification  of  parts.  4.  The  par- 
ticles composing  our  bodies  at  death.  5.  The  majority 
of  the  particles  deposited  in  the  earth.     6.  The  prin- 


274  ^^-  ^-  Clarke's  Theory. 

ciple  refcFred  to  above.  He  argues  against  the  first 
from  the  changes  it  undergoes,  and  the  injustice  of  its 
participating  in  the  consequences  of  actions  it  could 
not  have  performed.  As  to  the  second,  he  argues 
that  identity  cannot  be  transferred  from  one  system  of 
atoms  to  another  without  contradiction,  and  therefore 
that  identity  is  not  in  numerical  particles.  On  the 
third  he  shows  that  sameness  of  material  can  never 
consist  in  the  arrangement  of  parts.  He  argues 
against  the  fourth  as  presuming  that  no  identity  of  the 
body  existed  before.  On  the  fifth  he  says,  "  If  identity 
cannot  consist  either  in  the  union  of  original  and 
acquired  particles,  or  in  particles  which  are  wholly 
acquired,  then  the  identity  of  the  body  cannot  con- 
sist in  the  majority  of  those  particles  which  are 
deposited." 

Dr.  A.  Clarke  coincided  with  the  opinion  of  Mr. 
Drew,  and  found  some  illustration  of  it  in  the  Rab- 
binical use  of  the  Chaldee  word  xh  (Luz),  by  which 
they  "signify  a  certain  bone  in  the  human  skeleton 
which  is  incorruptible,  and  out  of  which  they  suppose 
the  resurrection  body  will  be  formed." 

Much  of  the  matter  connected  with  our  bodies 
during  life  is  doubtless  foreign  and  not  essential  to 
their  identity.  Nine-tenths  of  the  human  body  con- 
sists of  water,— as  has  been  shown  by  the  weight  of  a 
corpse  which  had  been  desiccated  in  an  oven, — and 
of  the  remaining  tenth  part,  much  is  material  in  a 
state  of  decay,  having  been  used  by  the  vital  pro- 
cesses, and  now  effete,  or  being  cast  off.  So  that  but  a 
very  small  proportion  of  the  matter  of  our  bodies  can 


Nascent  Matter  only  essential.  275 

really  be  said  to  be  our  own.  These  facts  add  much 
to  the  plausibility  of  Mr.  Drew's  theory.  The  prin- 
cipal objection  to  it  is  that  it  is  a  theory  of  vegeta- 
tion  or  development,  and  not  of  resurrection,  and 
thereby  fails  to  meet  the  requirements  of  the  biblical 
idea. 

No  idea  of  the  resurrection  can  be  true  or  scriptural 
which  will  fail  in  any  essential  respect  to  apply  to  the 
resurrection  body  of  Christ,  or  to  those  instances  of 
resurrection  related  in  the  Bible,  or  to  the  changed 
bodies  of  the  living  who  shall  remain  on  earth  at  the 
-general  resurrection.  The  apostle  says,  "We  which 
are  alive  and  remain  unto  the  coming  of  the  Lord 
shall  not  prevent  [that  is,  according  to  the  old  Eng- 
lish sense  of  the  word,  go  before,  or  have  preference 
over]  them  which  are  asleep."  So  that  whatever 
view  we  may  adopt  should  include  all  these  instances. 
The  evolution  theory  and  the  opinions  of  Whately 
and  Drew  all  fail  to  apply  to  them. 

We  have  seen  that  of  the  total  amount  of  material 
associated  with  our  bodies,  physiology  shows  a  very 
small  part  only  to  be  essential  to  their  integrity.* 

*  Dr.  Beale,  a  most  eminent  English  authority  in  histology,  or 
the  science  of  organic  tissues,  has  succeeded  in  demonstrating,  as  he 
believes,  the  difference  between  living  and  formed  structure.  He 
says,  "  Some  years  ago  I  obtained  evidence  which  convinced  me  that 
the  substance  of  the  bodies  of  all  things  living  was  composed  of 
matter  in  two  states ;  and  I  showed  that  the  truly  vital  phenomena, 
7ititrition,  growth^  and  multiplication,  were  manifested  by  one  of  the 
two  kinds  of  matter,  while  the  other  was  the  seat  of  physical  and 
chemical  changes  only.  From  observation,  I  was  led  to  conclude 
that,  of  any  living  thing,  but  a  part  of  the  matter  of  which  it  was 


276  Probability  from   Vital  Affinities. 

That  matter  only  which  is  in  a  nascent  condition,  or 
which  is  being  applied  to  vital  use,  can  be  said  to 
belong  to  our  bodies.  Supposing  this  small  part  to 
be  indestructible,  many  of  the  objections  to  a  resur- 
rection drawn  from  the  nourishment  of  other  organ- 
ized bodies  will  be  removed,  for  both  animals  and 
vegetables  are  built  up  from  the  decomposition  of 
other  beings. 

But  even  on  the  supposition  of  the  complete  reso- 
lution of  bodily  matter  into  its  chemical  elements, 
there  is  no  scientific  improbability  against  a  resurrec- 
tion, in  the  literal  sense  of  that  word.  For  each 
substance  in  nature  has  its  own  special  affinities,  and 
the  attraction  between  the  plastic  power  (or  forming 
spirit)  of  an  organized  being  and  the  atomic  material 
elements  pertaining  to  it  at  any  particular  period,  is 
sufficient  to  change  and  overcome  the  ordinary  laws 
of  matter  and  destroy  chemical  combinations.  With 
the  knowledge  which  science  gives  us  of  the  supe- 
riority of  the  laws  of  life  to  all  other  affinities,  and 
of  the  power  of  vitality  to  remove  its  appropriate 
matter  from  all  sorts  of  combination  whatever,  there 
is  no  scientific  impossibility  in  the  revelation  which 
announces  that  the  spirit  shall  come  again  to  claim 
its  own  appropriate  bodily  material.  There  is  no 
more    improbability   in  a  resurrection   than   in  the 

constituted  was  really  living  at  any  moment.  In  the  case  of  adult 
forms  of  the  higher  animals  and  man,  indeed,  only  a  very  small  por- 
tion of  the  total  quantity  of  their  body-matter  is  alive  at  any  period  of 
existence." — Life-  Theories  :  their  Influence  upon  Religious  Thought, 
By  Lionel  S.  Beale,  M.D.,  F.R.S.,  etc. 


No  Analogy  of  a  Resurrection.  '  277 

union  of  matter  and  spirit  at  first.  If  vegetation  was 
known  only  in  theory,  it  would  be  more  difficult  to 
believe  in  the  production  of  sixty  or  one  hundred 
grains  from  one  grain  than  to  credit  a  resurrection. 
The  suspension  of  vitality  for  two  or  three  thousand 
years,  as  in  a  seed  taken  from  the  hand  of  an  Egyp- 
tian mummy,  which,  on  being  planted  in  the  ground, 
produced  fruit,  is  just  as  difficult  to  understand  as  the 
resurrection  of  the  body.  We  have  indications  of 
similar  suspension  of  vitality  in  the  sleep  of  plants 
and  animals  and  in  hibernation.  Infusoria  have  been 
dried  and  resuscitated  a  number  of  times  without 
losing  their  vitality,  and  the  hydra  and  other  polyps 
may  be  cut  into  an  indefinite  number  of  pieces  and 
yet  live.  Such  instances  show  the  strength  of  the 
forming  principle,  and  its  power  to  renew  its  physical 
manifestations;  but,  although  they  tend  to  confirm  our 
faith  in  the  probability  of  a  resurrection,  they  are  not 
analogous.  There  are  no  analogies  to  it  in  nature. 
The  change  from  a  chrysalis  to  a  butterfly,  and  other 
metamorphoses,  are  merely  instances  of  developmental 
epochs,  not  of  resurrection.  The  decomposing  seed 
which  gives  rise  to  the  plant  is  never  severed  from 
the  vital  principle  or  germ.  The  idea  of  restoration 
from  a  state  of  real  death  is  so  foreign  to  all  our 
knowledge  that  we  are  warranted  in  assuming  that 
the  idea  would  never  have  occurred  to  our  minds  but 
for  Divine  revelation.  The  only  real  analogies  of  a 
resurrection  kn'bwn  to  man  are  the  historical  illustra- 
tions given  in  the  Bible. 

Yet  although  there  are  no  real  analogies  in  nature, 

24 


278         Some  Illustrations  of  a  Resurrection. 

— no  instances  of  actual  revivification  other  than 
those  revealed,  —  there  are  hints  and  illustrations 
which  may  serve  to  confirm  our  faith.  "Ask  the 
furrows  of  the  field,  and  they  shall  tell  thee.  For 
'except  a  corn  of  wheat  fall  into  the  ground  and  die, 
it  abideth  alone;  but  if  it  die,  it  bringeth  forth  much 
fruit.'  The  parts  of  the  seed  cannot  spring  afresh 
till  they  have  been  dissolved.  It  is  true,  the  husband- 
man soweth  only  bare  grain,  but  it  arises  'clothed 
upon'  with  a  beautiful  verdure.  And  'if  God  so 
clothe  the  grass  of  the  field,'  how  much  more  shall 
He  clothe  your  mortal  bodies  with  a  glorious  immor- 
tality, O  ye  of  little  faith?  But  why  need  we  take 
the  compass  of  a  year?  Every  twenty-four  hours 
there  is  a  rehearsal,  in  nature,  of  man's  death  and 
resurrection.  Every  evening,  the  day,  with  its  works, 
dies  into  darkness  and  the  shadow  of  death.  All 
colors  fade,  all  beauty  vanishes,  all  labor  and  motion 
cease,  and  every  creature,  veiled  in  darkness,  mourns, 
in  solemn  silence,  the  interment  of  the  world.  Who 
would  not  say,  '  It  is  dead, — it  shall  not  rise' !  Yet, 
wait  only  a  few  hours,  in  faith  and  patience,  and  this 
dead  and  entombed  earth,  by  the  agency  of  heaven 
upon  it,  shall  burst  asunder  the  bars  of  that  sepulchral 
darkness  in  which  it  was  imprisoned,  and  'arise,  and 
be  enlightened,  and  its  light  shall  come;  the  day- 
spring  from  on  high  shall  visit  it,  and  destroy  the 
covering  cast  over  all  people,'  and  array  universal 
nature  with  a  robe  of  glory  and  beauty,  raiding 
those  that  sleep,  to  behold  themselves  and  the 
world  changed  from   darkness  to  light,  and  calling 


Resiirrectio7t  the  Triumph  of  the  Supernatural.     279 

them  up  to  give   glory  to  God  and  think  of  the 
resurrection."* 

The  future  resurrection  of  the  dead  will  manifest 
the  complete  triumph  of  revealed  truth.  It  will  be 
the  gathering  together  in  one  of  the  things  in  heaven 
and  the  things  in  earth, — the  complete  union  and 
fusion  of  the  natural  and  the  supernatural.  It  is  there- 
fore the  crowning  miracle  of  the  Scriptures,  and  to  it 
all  other  miracles  testify.  The  resurrection  power  of 
Jesus  was  seen  in  all  his  miraculous  cures.  The 
revivification  (not  new  creation)  of  separate  organs 
of  the  body  is  analogous  to  the  resurrection  of  the 
whole  body,  as  in  the  cure  of  the  blind,  and  of  the 
man  with  the  withered  hand.  But  most  of  all  was 
supernatural  power  displayed  in  Christ's  own  resur- 
rection. By  this  was  He  declared  to  be  "the  Son  of 
God  with  power."  In  his  Divine  nature  dwelt  the 
essential  power  of  life.  No  man  took  his  life  without 
his  consent.  He  had  power  to  lay  it  down,  and  He 
had  power  to  take  it  again.  His  resurrection  proves 
his  ability  "to  subdue  all  things  unto  himself"  The 
prophets  of  the  Old  Testament,  as  the  messengers 
and  heralds  of  the  Saviour,  had  delegated  power 
to  work  occasional  miracles,  but  in  Jesus,  supreme 
supernatural  power  was  his  normal  state,  for  "in  Him 
dwelt  all  the  fullness  of  the  Godhead  bodily."  The 
final  resurrection  of  the  dead  will  be  the  completion 
of  his  work  of  redemption,  and  the  "  manifestation 
of  the  sons  of  God." 

*  Bishop  Home's  Sermon  on  the.  Resurrection. 


28o     The  Same  Body  with  Different  Qualities. 

The  Scriptures  represent  the  future  resurrection 
body  as  greatly  changed  from  the  condition  of  the 
present  body.  St.  Paul  affirms  that  Christ  shall 
**  change  our  vile  bodies,  that  they  may  be  made  like 
unto  his  own  glorious  body,"  and  in  another  place  he 
contrasts  the  buried  body  with  its  resurrection  state, 
saying,  "It  is  sown  in  corruption,  it  is  raised  in  incor- 
ruption;  it  is  sown  in  dishonor,  it  is  raised  in  glory; 
it  is  sown  in  weakness,  it  is  raised  in  power;  it 
is  sown  a  natural  body,  it  is  raised  a  spiritual 
body.  .  .  .  For  this  corruptible  must  put  on  incor- 
ruption,  and  this  mortal  must  put  on  immortality."  To 
these  representations  science  affords  many  analogies. 
The  various  instances  of  developmental  change  are 
such  analogies :  as  the  difference  between  a  seed  and 
the  plant  and  flower  which  spring  from  it;  the  differ- 
ence between  an  embryo  and  a  child  or  an  adult;  the 
changes  of  the  insect  tribes,  etc.  It  is  well  known 
in  modern  chemistry  that  many  substances  may  exist 
in  two  or  more  physical  states  or  conditions,  called 
allotropic  states.  In  these  conditions  the  same  sub- 
stance may  possess  very  different  physical  and  chem- 
ical properties.  In  one  state  they  may  be  torpid  and 
passive,  and  in  the  other  active.  Thus,  there  is  as 
great  an  amount  of  physical  difference  between  car- 
bon as  it  exists  in  the  diamond  and  as  it  exists  in 
pure  lampblack  as  between  copper  and  silver,  or 
silver  and  gold.  The  diamond  is  the  passive  form 
of  carbon,  and  can  hardly  be  made  to  burn  in  oxygen 
gas,  while  lampblack,  one  of  the  active  forms  of  the 
same  element,  is  so  highly  combustible  as  often  *o 


Conclusion.  281 

take  fire  spontaneously  in  the  open  air.  Phosphorus 
also,  may  be  white,  poisonous,  odorous,  luminous, 
soluble,  crystalline,  soft,  and  flexible;  or  in  another 
state,  without  chemical  change,  but  by  another  mode 
of  aggregation  of  particles,  as  it  is  supposed,  may 
be  red,  innocuous,  odorless,  illuminous,  insoluble, 
amorphous,  hard,  and  brittle.  It  has  been  suggested 
that  these  conditions  of  the  elements  are  retained 
when  they  enter  into  combination.  The  term  isomeric 
compcu7ids  is  used  in  chemistry  to  represent  such  as 
contain  the  same  elements,  in  the  same  proportions, 
and  yet  have  different  properties.  Thus,  spirits  of 
turpentine  and  the  oils  of  lemon,  of  juniper,  of  black 
pepper,  and  of  bergamot,  contain  equal  amounts  of 
carbon  and  hydrogen,  yet  their  properties  are  very 
different.  Oil  of  roses  and  illuminating  gas  are  also 
identical  in  composition.  The  difference  in  isomeric 
bodies  is  theoretically  accounted  for  by  supposing 
that  the  atoms  are  differently  arranged.* 

Thus  science  enlarges  the  number  of  illustrations 
which  confirm  the  doctrines  of  Holy  Writ,  and  re- 
moves the  clouds  of  ignorance  which  obscure  our 
vision  of  the  Creator's  resources.  Thus  the  volume 
of  Nature  and  the  volume  of  Inspiration  mutually 
confirm  each  other,  and  the  changes  indicated  by  the 
prophecies  of  the  future  are  shown  by  science  to  be 
in  accordance  with  the  economy  already  established 
by  Divine  Providence.  Faith  in  the  record  of  super- 
natural truth  is  seen  to  be  similar  in  essential  principle 


*  See  Youmans's  Class-Book  of  Chemistry. 
24* 


282  Conclusion, 

with  the  confidence  we  repose  in  the  order  and 
stability  of  nature.  The  natural  and  the  supernatural 
are  the  complements  of  each  other,  and  are  permeated 
by  the  same  Divine  energies,  under  the  guidance  of 
the  Supreme  Wisdom  of  the  same  Infinite  Will. 


GLOSSARY 


OF 


SCIENTIFIC  AND  THEOLOGICAL  TERMS. 


Abnormal  (Lat.  ab^  "from,"  and  norma,  a  "rule"). — Anything 
without  or  contrary  to  system  or  rule. 

Afferent  (Lat.  ad,  "  to,"  and/^rc,  to  "bear"). — Bearing  or  pour- 
ing into;  as  the  absorbent  vessels  which  pass  into  a  lymphatic  gland. 
Applied  to  nerves  which  convey  sensation  or  influence  towards  the 
nerve-centres. 

Affinity  (Lat.  affinis,  "related"). — In  chemistry,  the  attractive 
force  by  which  dissimilar  substances  unite  to  form  chemical  com- 
pounds. (See  Element.)  In  natural  history,  a  relation  of  animals 
to  each  other  because  of  similarity  of  organization. 

Allotropism  (Gr.  oAAof  {alios),  "other,"  and  r^xwrof  {tropos)y 
"direction"  or  ^*  way"). — In  chemistry,  the  property  of  existing  in 
different  conditions.  Thus,  carbon  occurs  hard  and  ciystallized  in 
octahedrons  in  the  diamond,  soft  and  in  hexagonal  forms  in  black- 
lead,  and  in  a  third  form  in  lampblack  and  charcoal. 

Alluvium  (Lat.  luei-e,  to  "wash,"  and  ad,  "together"). — Soil  or 
land  brought  together  by  the  ordinary  operation  of  water,  as  river- 
plains,  low  ground  once  the  site  of  lakes,  estuaries,  etc. 

Analogy  (Gr.  dvd  {ana),  "  with,"  and  TJtyoq  {logos),  "  reasoning"). 
— In  geometry  it  signifies  proportion;  in  zoology,  the  relation  which 
animals  bear  to  one  another,  but  not  in  the  essential  points  of  organi- 
zation, as  in  affinity.  Analogy  is  often  used  to  express  mere  similarity; 
but  its  specific  meaning  is  similarity  of  relations.  Thus,  analogical 
reasoning  is  reasoning  from  some  similitude  which  things  known  bear 
to  things  unknown. 

(283) 


284  Glossary, 

Anemone  (Gr.  Icvtuaq  {aitemos),  "wind"). — The  wind-i3ower;  a 
genus  of  plants  of  the  order  Ranunculacese.  Applied  also  to  the 
sea-anemone,  or  actinia,  a  species  of  polyp  often  seen  in  rock-holes 
on  the  sea-coast,  which,  from  its  resemblance  to  a  flower,  was  called 
animal-flower. 

Animalcule  (Lat.  animahulum,  a  "little  animal"). — An  animal 
which  can  be  seen  only  with  a  microscope. 

Annihilation  (Lat.  ad,  "to,"  and  nihilum,  "nothing"). — The 
act  of  reducing  to  nothing,  or  non-existence. 

Antediluvian  (Lat.  ante,  "  before,"  and  diluvium,  "  flood"), — 
Before  the  time  of  the  Deluge. 

Aphasia  (Gr.  a^aaia  {aphasia),  "dumbness  from  perplexity  or 
terror"). — A  diseased  condition  of  the  brain,  manifested  by  a  suspen- 
sion of  the  faculty  of  communicating  ideas. 

A  Priori  and  A  Posteriori. — Two  general  methods  of  reasoning 
according  to  what  is  called  the  synthetic  and  analytic  method.  The 
first  lays  down  some  previous  or  self-evident  principles,  and  descends 
to  their  consequences;  the  other  begins  with  phenomena,  and  en- 
deavors to  ascend  to  the  knowledge  of  the  cause. 

Archaeology  (Gr.  Q!p;^:cM0f  (arf>^«zt?j),  "ancient"). — The  science 
of  antiquities. 

Arminians. — Those  who  hold  with  respect  to  predestination  the 
tenets  of  Arminius,  a  Protestant  divine  born  in  Holland  a.d.  1560. 
He  taught,  in  opposition  to  the  Calvinists,  or  followers  of  Calvin,  that 
no  part  of  the  human  race  were  decreed  to  be  lost,  or  passed  by 
without  chance  of  salvation,  but  that  God  has  determined  to  save  all 
whom  He  foresaw  would  persevere  in  the  faith.  They  are  sometimes 
called  Remonstrants,  from  their  petition,  in  16 10,  to  the  States  of 
Holland  for  protection  against  the  persecutions  of  their  opponents. 
At  the  Synod  of  Dort,  A.D.  1618,  nine  years  after  the  death  of  Ar- 
minius, their  opinions  were  defended  by  Episcopius,  professor  of 
divinity  at  Leyden,  but  they  were  condemned,  and  their  adherents 
treated  with  great  severity.  Among  modern  churches,  the  Methodists 
represent  the  views  of  Arminians,  and  Presbyterians  those'of  Calvinists, 
so  far  as  the  doctrine  of  predestination  is  concerned. 

Atheism  (Gr.  d  {a),  "without,"  and  Geof  {theos),  "  God").— The 
denial  of  the  existence  of  a  God  or  a  Providence.  The  name  Atheist 
was  first  applied  to  Diagoras,  one  of  the  followers  of  Democritus, 
who  explained  all  things  by  the  movement  of  material  atoms.     The 


Glossary,  285 

other  form  of  ancient  atheism  was  that  of  Thales,  who  accounted 
for  all  things  by  the  different  transformations  of  water. 

Plato  well  says  in  his  Laws  that  atheism  is  a  disease  of  the  soul 
before  it  becomes  an  error  of  the  understanding. 

AssiMiLATlor?  (Lat.  assitnilo,  "  I  liken  to"). — The  act  by  which 
organized  bodies  incorporate  foreign  matter  and  convert  it  into  their 
own  proper  substance.  It  is  a  very  complicate  function,  and  has 
given  rise  to  some  of  the  most  difficult  problems  of  physiological 
chemistry. 

Atomic  Theory. — In  chemistry,  the  theoiy  of  atomic  equivalents, 
or  proportionate  weights  of  the  elements,  according  to  which  all 
substances  combine.  This  theory  of  combining  proportions,  with  the 
expression  of  the  elements  by  symbols,  has  rendered  the  science  of 
chemistry  quite  exact. 

Atonement. — Not  merely  the  act  or  condition  of  being  at  one^ — 
i.e.  agreement  or  reconciliation, — but  also  applied  to  the  act  of  expia- 
tion, satisfaction,  or  reparation  made  by  giving  an  equivalent  for  an 
injury.  In  theology  it  is  applied  to  the  expiation  of  sin  made  by  the 
death  of  Christ,  of  which  the  sacrifices  of  Jewish  and  patriarchal 
antiquity  were  types. 

Automatic  (Gr.  amoQ  [autos),  "self,"  and/^dw  (wa^)," motion"). — 
Self-moving.     Not  voluntary. 

Avatar. — In  Hindoo  mythology,  an  incarnation  of  the  deity.  The 
Hindoos  teach  that  innumerable  incarnations  have  taken  place ;  but 
nine  of  them  are  particularly  noted,  and  the  Kalki,  or  tenth  avatar, 
is  yet  to  come  at  the  end  of  the  iron  age. 

AvERROES. — A  renowned  Arabian  philosopher,  born  in  Spain  in 
the  latter  part  of  the  twelfth  century.  He  regarded  Aristotle  as  the 
greatest  of  all  philosophers,  and  devoted  himself  to  the  revival  of  his 
views. 

Axiom  (Gr.  u^uocf)  {axioo),  "I  demand"). — A  universal  proposition 
which  compels  our  faith, — the  understanding  perceiving  it  to  be  true 
as  soon  as  it  perceives  the  meaning  of  the  words,  although  it  cannot 
be  proved,  because  it  is  impossible  to  make  it  plainer.  All  mathe- 
matics depend  on  such  elemental  truths.  Indeed,  all  science  depends 
on  faith  in  such  axioms,  expressed  or  implied. 

Brahminical. — Pertaining  to  the  Brahmins,  the  first  or  highest  of 
the  four  castes  of  Hindoos,  in  whose  hands  the  whole  learning  of 


286  Glossary, 

India  remained  for  ages,  and  from  whom  the  Grecian  sages  obtained 
the  elements  of  their  philosophy. 

Buddhism. — The  religious  system  of  the  greater  part  of  Asia.  Its 
chief  tenets  are  that  sensible  objects  are  transient  and  delusive  mani- 
festations of  God,  that  the  human  soul  is  an  emanation' from  Deity, 
which,  after  death,  will  again  be  bound  to  matter  and  subjected  to 
misery  unless,  by  wisdom  acquired  through  prayer  and  meditation,  it 
becomes  absorbed  into  the  essence  from  which  it  sprang. 

Calvinists. — The  followers  of  Calvin,  one  of  the  Reformers  of 
the  sixteenth  century.  He  rejected  the  episcopal  form  of  church 
government  in  favor  of  the  presbyterial  system;  but  his  distinguish- 
ing tenets  were  the  doctrines  of  unconditional  predestination,  particu- 
lar redemption,  irresistible  grace,  and  the  certain  perseverance  of  the 
saints.  These  doctrines  are  rarely  preached  in  modem  times,  or,  if 
preached,  are  rendered  more  acceptable  by  an  announcement  of  the 
opposite  doctrine  of  the  freedom  of  the  will,  but  they  still  find  a 
place  in  the  catechisms  and  confessions  of  some  of  the  churches. 

Carboniferous  (Lat.  carbo,  "coal,"  and  y^ro,  **I  bear"). — A 
geological  term  applied  to  those  strata  which  contain  coal,  and  to  the 
period  when  the  coal  measures  were  formed. 

Cell  (Lat.  cella,  a  "  cell"). — The  elementary  form  of  living  matter. 
The  simplest  form  of  both  animals  and  vegetables  is  found  to  be  a 
cell, — a  bladder-like  form,  containing  fluid,  etc.  Even  the  hardest 
tissues,  as  wood,  and  bone,  and  teeth,  are  shown  by  physiology  to 
have  originated  from  cells,  and  to  consist  of  a  congeries  of  altered 
cells. 

Cerebellum  (Lat.  cerebellum,  "  little  brain"). — The  hinder  and 
lower  part  of  the  brain. 

Cerebro. Spinal  Axis. — An  anatomical  term  applied  to  the  brain, 
spinal  cord,  and  nerves  which  proceed  therefrom. 

Cerebrum  (Lat.  cerebrzim,  the  "hv^in"). — The  front  and  larger 
mass  of  the  brain. 

Chronology  (Gr.  xpovog  (cAronos),*' time,'*  and  ?ayos  [logos), 
"  discourse"  or  "  doctrine"). — The  science  which  treats  of  the  various 
divisions  of  time,  and  of  the  order  and  succession  of  events.  The 
diversities  of  epochs  among  different  nations,  and  the  various  stand- 
ards for  the  measurement  of  intervals,  render  this  one  of  the  most 
uncertain  of  sciences.     Desvignoles  mendons  that  he  had  collected 


Glossary,  2^"/ 

upwards  of  two  hundred  different  calculations,  the  shortest  of  which 
reckons  only  3483  years  between  the  creation  and  commencement  of 
the  common  era,  and  the  longest  6984;  the  difference  being  no  less 
than  thirty-five  centuries.  Objections  to  the  Scriptures  from  so  unre- 
liable a  "source  necessarily  fail  to  apply. 

Chrysalis  {Gr. xpvaog  {chrysos),  "gold"). — The  second  condition 
or  state  through  which  some  insects  pass  before  arriving  at  their 
winged  or  perfect  state. 

Clairvoyance  (Fr.,  "  clear-sightedness"), — A  power  attributed  to 
persons  in  a  mesmeric  state  of  discerning  objects  which  are  not 
present  to  the  senses. 

Clonic  Spasm. — An  alternate  contraction  and  relaxation  of  the 
muscles. 

CCEN.«STHESIS  (Gr,  KOLVOQ  {koittos),  "common,"  and  alodeoig  (ah- 
thesis),  "feeling"). — Common  sensation.  By  the  coensesthesis,  states 
of  our  bodies  are  revealed  to  us  which  have  their  seat  in  the  sphere 
of  vegetative  life. 

Consensual  (Lat.  con,  "with,"  and  sentio,  to  "think,"  "feel,"  or 
"perceive"). — Excited  or  caused  by  sensation,  and  not  volitional. 

Co-ordinated. — Brought  into  common  action. 

Correlation  of  Force. — Corresponding  similarity  or  parallelism. 
A  term  given  to  the  modern  theory  that  all  the  forces  of  nature  are 
but  modifications  of  a  single  force. 

Cosmogony  (Gr,  Koofiog  {^kosmos),  "  world,"  and  yoveia  {goneia), 
"generation"). — The  science,  or  rather  theory,  of  the  origin  of  the 
universe,  sometimes  called  Cosmology. 

Creed  (Lat.  credo,  "  I  believe"), — A  summary  of  faith  or  of  prin- 
ciples. In  the  Greek  Church  such  a  summary  was  termed  a  symbol, 
and  this  name  is  retained  among  Lutherans.  Among  numerous 
creeds,  those  most  celebrated  are  the  Apostles'  Creed  (so  called),  the 
Nicene,  and  the  Athanasian,  The  necessity  of  such  summaries  arose 
out  of  the  discussion  of  items  of  faith  in  the  early  Christian  centuries. 
They  were  intended  as  testimonies  against  erroneous  doctrines. 

Darwinian  Theory. — A  modification  of  the  theory  of  the  develop- 
ment of  all  living  things  from  a  single  form  or  from  a  few  forms.  It 
is  sometimes  called  the  "theory  of  natural  Helection."  Agassiz,  Bal- 
four, Brewster,  and  other  eminent  scientists  have  shown  that  this 
theory  is  contradicted  by  modern  science;  yet  certain  sciolists  cling 


288  Glossary, 

to  it  as  if  it  possessed  a  charm  for  the  human  understanding.  (See 
Chapter  VI.) 

Deduction. — Inference  drawn  from  premises  laid  down.  It  is  the 
opposite  of  induction,  which  consists  in  rising  from  particular  truths 
to  the  determination  of  a  general  principle.  The  principle  of  deduc- 
tion is,  that  things  which  agree  with  the  same  thing  agree  with  one 
another.  The  principle  of  induction  is,  that  in  the  same  circumstances, 
and  in  the  same  substances,  from  the  same  causes  the  same  effects 
will  follow.  The  mathematical  and  metaphysical  sciences  are 
founded  on  deduction;  the  physical  sciences  rest  on  induction. 

Deism. — The  creed  of  a  deist.  It  acknowledges  the  existence  of 
one  God,  but  denies  revelation. 

Demon  (Lat.  damon). — In  the  pagan  mythology,  a  spirit  holding  a 
middle  place  between  men  and  the  celestial  deities.  In  modern  use 
the  word  is  applied  generally  to  an  evil  spirit. 

Development  Theory.    See  Darwinian  Theory. 

DiLUViAN  (Lat.  dis,  "asunder,"  and  luere,  to  "wash"). — The 
result  of  the  extraordinary  action  of  water.  Deposits  of  loam,  gravel, 
etc.,  which  are  supposed  to  have  been  caused  by  the  Deluge,  or  ancient 
currents  of  water  of  extraordinary  violence. 

Divination. — The  art  of  foretelling  future  events  by  the  aid  oi 
superior  beings,  or  by  other  than  human  means.  The  ancient  heathens 
divided  divination  into  two  kinds,  natural  and  artificial.  The  first 
was  a  sort  of  afflatus  or  supposed  inspiration,  the  other  by  means  of 
certain  rites  and  ceremonies  and  omens. 

DoCETiE  (Gr.  doKELv  {dokein),  to  *'seem"). — One  of  the  earliest 
heretical  sects,  which  taught  that  Christ  lived  and  acted  in  appear- 
ance only,  and  not  in  reality.  Some  divines  have  considered  that  the 
express  declarations  of  the  nature  of  Christ  in  St.  John's  writings 
were  especially  directed  against  these  errors. 

Dualism  — The  Manichean  system,  which  taught  the  existence  of 
two  gods, — a  good  and  an  evil  one.  Also,  the- system  of  Anaxagoras 
and  Plato,  who  taught  two  principles  in  nature,  an  active  and  a  passive 
one. 

Ecstasy  (Gr.  eKoraoig  {ekstasis)). — A  state  of  trance.  In  medicine, 
a  species  of  catalepsy  in  which  the  patient  remembers,  after  the  fit, 
the  ideas  he  had  during  its  continuance. 

Efferent  (Lat.  eff'ero,  to  "bear  out"}.— Conveying  outwards. 


Glossary .  289 

Element. — A  simple  or  uncompounded  substance;  the  last  result 
of  analysis.  Thus,  iron  is  consideied  an  element,  while  iron  rust  is 
an  oxide  of  iron,  because  it  is  a  compound  of  iron  and  oxygen. 
Chemistry  has  isolated  about  sixty  elements,  from  whose  combinations 
all  material  things  are  composed. 

Empirical. —  Pertaining  to  experiment  or  experience.  From  the 
common  custom  of  quacks  to  boast  of  their  experience,  it  has  come 
to  signify  what  pertains  to  quackeiy. 

Enteric  (Gr.  cvrqxjv  (^«/(?rt?«),  "intestine"). — Intestinal;  as,  en- 
teric fever. 

EozooN. — The  name  given  to  a  remarkable  fossil,  the  remains  of 
an  animal  of  the  order  Foraminifera,  but  of  much  greater  size  than 
existing  species.  It  was  discovered  in  the  Laurentian  strata  of  Canada, 
below  the  Silurian  formation.  Its  discovery  in  strata  regarded  as 
azoic,  or  primitive,  has  attracted  considerable  attention  among  geolo- 
gists, and  may  revolutionize  present  systems. 

Epicurean. — Pertaining  to  the  tenets  of  Epicurus  (b.c.  300).  From 
a  probably  mistaken  view  of  his  teachings,  the  word  has  come  tc 
represent  tlios,e  who  make  pleasure  the  chief  end  of  life  and  standard 
of  virtue. 

Evidences. — A  term  applied  to  the  proofs  of  the  Divine  authority 
of  the  Scriptures,  External  evidences  are  miracles  and  prophecy; 
internal  evidences  are  drawn  from  the  nature  of  the  revelation;  and 
collateral  evidences  relate  to  other  circumstances. 

EXPERIMENTUM  Crucis. — A  crucial  or  decisive  experiment. 

Familiar  Spirits. — Good  or  evil  spirits  [dcemons),  which  were 
supposed  to  be  continually  within  call,  and  at  the  service  of  their 
masters.  In  the  history  of  witchcraft  in  modern  Europe  the  idea  of 
familiar  was  restricted  to  evil  spirits.     (See  Demon.) 

Firmament. — An  expanse;  a  wide  extent  (referring  to  the  sky). 
Such  is  the  significance  of  the  Hebrew  word  which  is  thus  translated. 
In  the  language  of  the  old  astronomers,  it  is  the  orb  of  the  fixed 
stars,  the  outermost  of  the  celestial  spheres. 

Fossil  {'LzX.  fosszis,  "dug  up"). — A  term  applied  to  organic  re- 
mains, generally  petrified,  which  are  dug  out  of  the  earth's  strata. 

Free- Agency. — The  state  of  acting  freely  or  without  necessity. 
Synonymous  with  free  will.  Coleridge  well  says,  "The  will  is 
ultimately  self-determined,  or  it  is  no  longer  a  will  under  tlie  law  of 
25 


290  Glossary. 


perfect  freedom,  but  a  nature  under  the  mechanism  of  cause  and 
effect."  In  the  question  of  the  spontaneity  of  mental  power — the 
freedom  of  the  will — is  involved  the  whole  discussion  of  religion  and 
infidelity.  If  Nature  be  all  (in  the  sense  of  infidelity),  man's  will  is 
compelled,  not  free. 

Function  {\jsA:.  funciio,  from  fiingor,  to  "perform"). — In  natural 
history,  the  proper  action,  office,  or  act  of  any  part  or  organ,  or 
system  of  organs.  Thus,  we  speak  of  the  vegetative  functions  of 
nutrition  (including  selection  and  assimilation),  secretion,  and  repro- 
iluclion;  and  of  the  animal  functions  of  sensation  and  volition. 

Ganglion  —  Ganglionic  System  (Gr.  yayyhbv  {ganglion),  a 
'*knot"). — An  enlargement  in  the  course  of  a  nerve.  The  ganglionic 
system,  or  great  sympathetic  nerve,  is  a  term  applied  to  the  ganglia  and 
nerves  of  common  sensation. 

Geology  (Gr.  yj)  {ge),  the  "earth,"  and  "Xoyoq  [logos),  "doctrine") 
— The  science  which  treats  of  the  structure  of  the  globe  and  the 
causes  of  its  physical  features. 

Gnostics  (Gr.  yvucts  (gnosis),  "knowledge"). —  A  sect  of  philoso- 
phers in  the  first  ages  of  Christianity,  who  pretended  that  they  only 
had  a  true  knowledge  of  the  Christian  religion.  The  grand  principle 
of  the  system  seems  to  have  been  an  attempt  to  reconcile  the  difficulties 
arising  from  the  existence  of  evil  in  the  world.  They  formed  a  the- 
ology after  the  philosophy  of  J*ythagoras  and  Platp,  to  which  they 
accommodated  all  their  interpretations  of  Scripture.  They  held  that 
all  things  were  derived  from  successive  emanations  from  the  fountain 
of  Deity.     These  emanations  they  called  aons. 

Gravity  (Lat,  gravis,  "heavy"). — The  mutual  tendency  of  all 
bodies  to  approach  each  other  with  forces  which  are  directly  as  their 
masses  and  inversely  proportional  to  the  squares  of  their  distances. 

Harmony  of  the  Gospels. — A  title  given  to  works  proposing  to 
reduce  the  events  of  gospel  history  to  order  of  time. 

Hegelianism. — A  form  of  German  philosophy,  named  ^fter  Hegel, 
It  is  one  of  the  forms  of  pantheism.  B?ahviinism  viewed  God  as 
Being,  Leibnitz  as  Monad,  Pythagoras  as  Number,  Spinoza  as  Sub- 
stance, and  Hegel  as  the  Notion  of  which  everything  existing  is  a 
form.  With  Hegel,  mankind's  knowledge  of  God  is  God's  knowledge 
of  himself;  in  the  mind  of  mankind  God  evolves  himself. 


Glossary,  29 1 

Hibernation  (Lat.  hybemus^  "wintry"). — A  condition  of  torpor 
in  which  some  animals  remain  during  the  winter  season. 

Hieroglyphics  (Gr.  Itgilu;  {Jiieros),  "sacred,"  and  yXv^ui  {glypho)^ 
"I  engrave").— Picture-writing.  Applied  chiefly  to  the  inscriptions 
on  the  Egyptian  monuments.  Champollion  discovered  that  there 
were  three  kinds  of  characters  used:  I,  Pictures  of  the  objects,  ir. 
whole  or  in  part;  2.  Symbols;  3.  Phonetic,  characters,  referring  to 
tlie  initial  letter  of  the  name  of  the  animal  or  thing  represented. 

Hypochondriac  (Gr.  irm  [Jiypo)^ "  under,"  and  xpv^poq  {chotidros)^ 
"cartilage"). — A  combination  of  dyspepsia  and  melancholy. 

Hypothesis  (Gr.  imidmo^  [Iiypothcsis),si^'  supposition"). — A  theory 
or  supposition  for  the  purpose  of  explaining  what  is  not  understood. 
It  is  to  be  regretted  that  so  much  jiasses  for  science  which  is  merely 
hypothesis. 

Ideialism. — The  theorj'  which  makes  everything  to  consist  in  ideas, 
and  denies  the  existence  of  material  bodies. 

Identity  (Lat.  «i/^w,  the  "same"). — Sanreness,  as  distinguished 
from  resemblance  and  diversity.  Personal  identity  is  synonymous 
with  personality.  Consciousness  merely  ascertains  personal  identity, 
but  does  not  constitute  it. 

Induction.     See  Deduction. 

Infusoria. — Microscopic  animals  inhabiting  stagnant  water  and 
various  infusions. 

Innate  (Lat.  in,  "in,"  and  nasco,  to  "be  lx)rn"j. — Inborn. 

Inspiration. — In  a  theological  sense,  the  suj^ruatural  influence  of 
the  Spirit  of  God  by  which  the  sacred  writers  were  qualified  to  com- 
municate Divine  truth  without  error;  or  such  suggestions  or  impres- 
sions on  the  mind  as  leave  no  room  to  doubt  the  reality  of  their 
Divine  origin. 

Isomerism  (Gr.  laoq  {I'sos),  "equal,"  and  fiepog  {tneros)^  "  part"). — 
Identity  of  elements  and  proportions,  with  diversity  of  properties. 

Latitudinarian.— Loose  in  principles  or  views.  Free-thinking. 
An  undue  latitude  of  interpretation. 

Laurentian. — A  term  given  to  the  primitive  rocks  in  Canada, 
which  form  the  bocklxine,  as  it  were,  of  that  part  of  the  continent. 

Law  (from  the  Anglo-Saxon  lecgan,  to  "lay  down"). — A  mode  or 
rule.     A  law  supposes  an  agent  and  a  power;  for  it  is  the  mode 


292  Glossary, 

according  to  which  the  agent  proceeds,  the  order  according  to  which 
the  power  acts.  Physical  laws  are  truly  called  in  Scripture  ordinance 
of  heaven. 

Legend. —A  fabulous  or  unauthenticated  story  purporting  to  come 
down  from  antiquity. 

Magic  (Lat.  ars  magica,  the  "art  of  the  Magi,"  these  Persian 
philosophers  being  regarded  by  the  Remans  as  the  chief  possessors 
of  supernatural  powers). — Magic  was  called  white  or  celestial  magic, 
when  it  claimed  to  originate  from  good  spirits ;  black  or  diabolical 
magic,  or  witchcraft,  when  based  on  a  compact  with  the  devil,  or  on 
superstitious  rites  borrowed  from  heathenism ;  and  natural  magic,  from 
the  propensity  of  the  scientific  in  a  past  age  to  take  advantage  of 
the  credulity  of  the  ignorant. 

Mammals  (Lat.  niafumoy  a  "teat"). — The  highest  and  most  com- 
pletely organized  class  of  animals.  Man  is  placed  in  this  class,  as 
well  as  the  horse,  dog,  bear,  whale,  etc.  It  embraces  those  which 
suckle  their  young. 

Marasmus  {Gr.  fiapaivu  {marazno\''  I  waste  away"). — Emaciation, 
wasting. 

Materialism. — The  metaphysical  theory  which  teaches  that  all 
existence  may  be  resolved  into  some  modification  of  matter.  This 
theory  assumes  many  shapes.  At  one  time  we  meet  it  in  one  of  the 
forms  of  pantheism,  which  teaches  the  self-evolution  of  the  physical 
universe.  At  another  time  it  assumes  the  form  of  the  mechanico- 
coi-puscular  theory.  Again  it  teaches  that  the  brain  secretes  thought, 
as  the  liver  does  bile.  Democritus  and  Epicurus  among  the  ancients, 
Gassendi,  Hobbes,  and  Priestley  among  the  moderns,  were  noted 
materialists. 

Mediator. — A  term  applied  to  Jesus  Christ,  as  interceding  between. 
God  and  man  and  obtaining  for  the  latter  the  remission  of  the  pun 
ishment  due  to  sin.     Those  who  deny  the  essential  Divinity  of  Christ 
reject  also  the  idea  of  his  mediatorial  character. 

Mediums. — A  term  applied  to  those  who,  according  to  the  teach- 
ing of  modern  spiritualism,  are  possessed  by  the  influence  of  disem- 
bodied spirits,  and  speak  or  write  under  such  influence. 

Medulla  Oblongata. — A  part  of  the  brain  formed  by  the  jimction 
of  the  crura  of  the  brain  and  cerebellum.     It  terminates  in  the  spinal 


Glossary.  293 

Mesmeric  Trance. — A  sort  of  cataleptic  condition  into  whict 
persons  of  impressible  imagination  may  lie  thrown  by  animal  magnet- 
ism, or  mesmerism,  as  it  is  called.  Like  natural  catalepsy,  or,  rather, 
the  disease  so  named,  it  is  often  associated  with  a  soil  of  clairvoyance, 
the  nature  of  which  has  led  to  much  speculation,  but  is  not  yet 
understood. 

Metamorphosis  (Gr.  ^ra  {nieta)^  "  change,"  and  /^op^  [luorphe), 
*<forni"), — Transformation.  In  entomology  it  refers  to  the  change 
of  form  in  insects,  as  the  change  of  a  caterpillar  from  lorva  \.o  pu/><t 
and  to  imago. 

Metaphysics  (Gr.  fisra  (w^/^),  "  after,"  and  t^mvg  (/i/^ysis),  'U\a- 
ture"). — All  those  studies  and  inquiries  which  are  conversant  with 
other  objects  than  those  which  are  physical  and  sensii)1e.  Metaphysics 
was  formerly  divided  into getiera/ a.nd  special.  The  fonner  was  called 
ontology,  or  the  science  of  being  in  general.  Special  metaphysics  was 
sometimes  csWed  pnezimatology,  and,  as  it  related  to  three  objects,-^ 
God,  the  world,  and  the  human  mind, — was  subdivided  into — I. 
Natural  theology,  or  theodicy;  2.  Rational  cosmology;  3.  Rational 
psychology. 

Metempsychosis  (Gr.  uera  [mela),  "change,"  and  ^•u;t7  [psyche)^ 
*'sour'). — The  doctrine  of  the  migration  of  the  soul  through  dififerent 
successive  bodies.  It  was  believed  among  the  Egyptians,  and  was  a 
leading  doctrine  of  the  Pythagorean  philosophy.  It  is  almost  univer- 
sal among  ihe  Hindoos,  and  is  the  foundation  of  the  Brahminical 
injunction  of  abstinence  from  flesh. 

Molecule  (Lat,  moleczila,  a  "little  mass"). — The  smallest  portion 
of  matter  cognizable  by  any  of  our  senses. 

Monad  (Gr.  (jjovo/q  {monas),  "unity,"  "one"). — An  ultimate  atom, 
or  simple  unextended  point. 

Mysticism. — A  word  of  very  vague  signification,  applied  generally 
to  all  those  religious  views  or  tendencies  which  aspire  to  a  direct 
communication  between  man's  soul  and  God.  It  is  sometimes  applied 
to  the  pantlieism  which  teaches  tliat  God  is,  and  is  revealed,  in  out- 
ward things;  to  the  Quietism  of  Madame  Guyon,  F6nelon,  etc  ,  who 
looked  for  direct  revelations  in  a  sjDecies  of  ecstasy;  to  the  doctrines 
of  the  Illuminati  in  Germany;  to  the  visions  of  Swedenborg,  etc. 
There  is  no  doubt  a  scriptural  mysticism,  but  the  Bible  exhorts  us  not 
to  believe  every  spirit,  but   to  "  try  the  spirits  whether  they  be  of 

God." 

25* 


►94  Glossary. 


Nascent  {^jsX.  nascens,  to  "be  born"). — Beginning  to  exist  or  to 
grow.  In  the  act  of  being  produced  or  evolved  (as  a  gas,  in  chemistry). 
From  present  indications  in  microscopic  science,  the  time  is  not  far 
distant  when  physiology  will  be  able  to  distinguish  between  nascent 
or  germinal  growing  tissue  and  that  which  has  accomplished  its  vital 
function. 

Neo-Platonists. — A  sect  of  mystical  philosophers  who  flourished 
in  the  fourth  and  fifth  centuries  of  the  Christian  era.  They  mixed 
some  tenets  of  ancient  Platonism  with  others  derived  from  various 
sources,  and  particularly  from  the  demonology  of  the  East. 

Neptunian  Theory. — The  geological  hypothesis  which  refers  the 
formation  of  rocks  to  an  aqueous  origin. 

Nomadic  (Gr.  vo^Sikoc  {i207>iadikps),  "pastoral*'). — Applied  to 
tribes  of  men  without  fixed  habitation,  generally  pastoral  tribes. 

Ontological.— Pertaining  to  the  science  of  ontology,  or  the 
science  of  being  in  general,  and  its  attributes. 

Oracle  (Lat.  oractthini,  from  oro,  to  "utter"). — The  name  given 
primarily  to  the  response  given  by  the  pagan  divinities  to  those  who 
consulted  them,  but  afterwards  applied  to  the  place  as  well  as  to  the 
divinities  from  whom  the  responses  were  supposed  to  proceed.  It  is 
used  in  the  Bible  to  represent  the  sanctuary,  or  most  holy  place,  in 
the  temple;  and  in  the  plural — oi-acles  of  God — to  express  the  reve- 
lations of  God  in  the  Scriptures. 

Organic — Organization  (Gr.  hfyyavov  [organon),  a  "member"  or 
•'instrument")  — Pertaining  to,  or  the  act  of  forming,  bodies  with 
organs:  usually  appropriated  to  vitalized  matter,  as  the  tissues  of 
animals  and  vegetables. 

Osiris. — The  name  of  one  of  the  chief  Egyptian  divinities,  the 
brother  and  husband  of  Isis.  After  having  effected  a  reformation  in 
Egypt,  it  is  said  he  visited  and  enlightened  the  greater  part  of  Europe 
and  Asia,  and  on  his  return  he  was  assassinated  by  his  brother  Typhon 
(the  evil  principle).  He,  however,  "rose  again  to  a  new  life,"  and 
became  the  "judge  of  mankind  in  a  future  state," 

Pantheism  (Gr.  tzolv  {pan),  "all,"  and  dtoq  {i/ieos),  "God").— 
The  theory  which  identifies  nature — the  universe  in  its  totality — with 
God.     The  modern  German  pantheism  regards  the  universe  as  the 


Glossary.  295 

self-development  of  God.  Another  view  is  expressed  by  Pope  in  hii 
E^say  on  Man,  in  the  lines, — 

"  All  are  but  parts  of  one  stupendous  whole. 
Whose  body  Nature  is,  and  God  the  soul." 

Many  have  considered  this  as  similar  to  the  Christian  view  of  God 
AS  expressed  by  St.  Paul, — "  In  whom  we  live,  and  move,  and  have 
our  being."  The  difference  is  that  in  the  Scriptures  God's  independ- 
ent subsistence  is  regarded  as  the  condition  and  ground  of  all  phe- 
nomenal exii^tence,  and  of  reason  itself.  God  may  exist  without  the 
world,  but  the  world  is  inconceivable  without  God. 

Paralysis  (Gr.  napakveiv  {paraluein),  to  "weaken").— Palsy. 

Pentateuch  (Gr.  i^ivrz  [penfe)  "  five,"  and  tevxo^  {Jeuchos),  an  "  in- 
strument").— The  five  books  of  Moses,  viz..  Genesis,  Exodus,  Leviti- 
cus, Numbers,  and  Deuteronomy. 

Phcenix. — In  mythology,  a  celebrated  bird,  which  was  said  to  live 
five  or  six  hundred  years  in  the  wilderness,  where  she  built  a  funeral 
pile  of  aromatic  wood  and  gums,  which  she  lighted  by  fanning  with 
her  wings.  She  was  only  apparently  consumed,  however,  this  beir^ 
the  process  by  which  she  renewed  her  vitality.  Ilenccthe  Phoenix 
became  an  emblem  of  immortality,  and  was  frequently  brought  for- 
ward by  the  Fathers  of  the  church  as  an  illustration  of  the  resurrec- 
tion. 

Phrenic  — Relating  to  the  diaphragm. 

Physical  Science,  or  Physics. — The  science  of  the  material  sys- 
tem, including  natuial  history,  natural  philosophy,  and  chemistry. 
Physics  and  metaphysics  include  the  knowledge  of  whatever  exists. 

Physico-Theology. — Theology  illustrated  from  nature. 

Physiology  (Gr.  ^ai^  {pkysis),  "nature,"  and  ')i^yo£  {logos),  a 
"discourse"). — The  science  of  vital  phenomena,  or  of  the  functions 
of  living  beings. 

PLATONlSM.^-The  })hiIosophy  of  Plato.  It  is  difficult  to  give  an 
idea  of  this  philosophy  in  a  few  words,  as  it  went  deeper  down  to  the 
foundations  of  science  than  that  of  any  of  his  predecessors,  and 
tinged  the  opinions  of  many  who  succeeded  him.  In  this  system 
knowledge  is  not  to  be  confounded  with  the  impressions  on  the  senses, 
or  with  the  judgments  founded  upon  them.  Radically,  knowledge 
consists  in  archetypal  ideas,  which  are  themselves  included  in  the 
highest  unity,  or  God,  from  whom  they  derive  their  reality.  Theology 


296  Glossary. 

is,  therefore,  the  ultimate  science  in  which  all  the  other  sciences  con- 
verge: dialectics,  as  the  science  of  the  true;  ethics,  as  the  science 
of  the  morally  beautiful;  and  physics,  as  that  which  discenis  the 
order  and  fitness  of  outward  things.  In  this  account  we  have  followed 
those  who  give  the  most  favorable  view  of  Platonism.  (See 
Chapter  V.) 

Plutonic. — A  geological  term  applied  to  unstratified  crystalline 
rocks,  supposed  to  be  formed  at  great  depths  by  igneous  fusion. 

Pneumothorax  (Gr.  Trvtvfza  (//;«^wrt'),*'air,"  and  06f)a^  (tfiorax)^ 
the  "chest''). — An  accumulation  of  air  in  the  sac  of  the  pleura. 

Polyps  (Gr.  izoTiix,  {polus)^  "many,"  and  novc  {poi/s)ia.  "foot"). — 
A  group  of  radiated  animals,  having  a  fleshy  body,  of  a  conical  or 
cylindrical  form,  commonly  fixed  by  one  extremity,  and  with  the 
mouth  at  the  opposite  end  generally  surrounded  with  tentacles.  There 
are  rrany  families  of  polyps,  including  the  sea-anemones,  madrepores, 
coral -polyps,  etc. 

Polytheism  (Gr.  ttoIvc  {pohts),  "  many,"  and  0toc  {theos),  "  God"). 
— The  doctrine  of  a  plurality  of  Gods.  Sal)ianism  (or  planet-worship), 
Zendism  (or  fire-worship),  demon-worship,  hero-worbhip,  and  animal- 
worship,  together  with  the  fetichism  of  some  negro  tribes,  may  all  be 
considered  as  varieties  of  polytheism. 

Positivism. — The  philosophy  of  M.  Auguste  Comte.  "  The  lead- 
ing conception  of  M.  Comte  is, — There  are  but  three  phases  of  intel- 
lectual evolution, — the  theological  (supernatural),  the  vietapliysical^ 
and  \h&  positive.  In  the  supernatural  \yh:iS,Q,  the  mind  seeks  causes ; 
unusual  phenomena  are  interpreted  as  the  signs  of  the  pleasure  or 
displeasure  of  some  god.  In  the  metaphysical  phase,  the  supernatural 
agents  are  set  aside  for  abstract  forces  inherent  in  substances.  In  the 
positive  phase,  the  mind  restricts  itself  to  the  discovery  of  the  laws 
of  phenomena." 

Primitive  Religion. — The  religion  of  Adam  and  the  patriarchs. 
For  an  account  of  the  early  religious  faith,  see  Chapter  III, 

Proi'ITIATION. — The  act  of  making  propitious.  The  atonement 
or  atoning  sacrifice  which  removes  the  obstacle  to  man's  salvation. 
Christ  is  the  propitiation  for  the  sins  of  men.     (I.  John,  ii.) 

Proserpine. — The  Latin  form  of  Persephone,  the  name  of  a 
Grecian  goddess,  sprung  from  Jupiter  and  Ceres.  She  was  stolen  by 
Pluto,  au»l  carried  to  the  infernal  regions,  where  she  became  his 
queen.     The  wanderings  of  Ceres  in  search  of  her  daughter  were 


Glossary.  297 

finally  rewarded  by  Proserpine  being  allowed  to  spend  two-thirds  of 
the  year  with  her  parents,  the  rest  being  spent  with  Pluto. 

Psychology  (Gr.  ■pvxri  {psyche),  the  "soul,"  and  Aoyof  {logos) 
*'  discourse"). — In  its  largest  meaning  it  is  synonymous  with  mental 
philosophy. 

Pyrrhonism. — The  tenets  of  Pyrrho  (b.c.  300).  These  are  said 
to  have  been  so  absurdly  skeptical  that  the  Pyrrhonists  would  not  put 
even  as  much  confidence  in  the  senses  as  was  necessary  to  preserva- 
tion. 

Rationalism. — A  system  of  interpretation  common  during  the  last 
century  among  German  divines,  and  from  them  extending  through 
Europe  and  America,  which  attributes  a  merely  human  character  to 
Christianity,  and  reduces  the  Bible  accounts  to  a  mixture  of  truth  and 
error  natural  to  fallible  men.  Its  adherents  have  no  settled  or  con- 
sistent opinions  among  themselves,  but  unite  only  in  opposing  the 
supernatural  character  of  religion. 

Reflex  Motion. — A  term  applied  in  physiology  to  certain  in- 
voluntary movements  of  the  body,  excited  by  influence  conveyed  to 
the  nerve-centres  by  afferent,  and  thence  to  the  muscles  by  efferent, 
nerves. 

Reformation. — An  important  era  in  political  and  ecclesiastical 
history,  when  the  authority  of  the  papacy  and  the  peculiar  doctrines 
of  the  Romish  church  were  successfully  called  in  question.  It  is 
commonly  dated  from  the  year  1517,  when  Luther  began  to  oppose 
the  pope  and  condemned  the  sale  of  indulgences. 

Remonstrants.    See  Arminians. 

Sanctification.^ — In  theology,  the  purification  of  the  moral  nature 
by  the  special  operation  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  which  ensues  upon  Justifi- 
cation, which  latter  word  represents  the  being  accounted  just,  or 
pardoned  of  sin,  by  reason  of  faith  in  the  atonement  of  Qirist. 

Saurians  (Gr.  oaviJOf  {smtros),  a  "lizard"). — Reptiles  covered 
with  scales  and  having  four  legs,  as  the  crocodile  and  lizard.  The. 
most  gigantic  species  are  found  in  a  fossil  state. 

Scholasticism. — The  scholastic  philosophy, — an  endeavor  to  base 
the  doctrines  of  the  church  upon  the  Aristotelian  philosophy.  It  was 
common  to  the  schools  and  universities  during  what  are  called  the 
iarkages:  hence  its  naice. 


298  Glossaiy. 

'  Secretion. — The  process  by  which  substances  are  separated  from 
the  blood  iu  animals,  or  from  the  sap  in  vegetables,  as  milk,  bile,  etc. 
in  the  former,  and  gum,  resin,  etc.  in  the  latter. 

Sedimentary. — In  geology,  applied  to  earth,  sand,  etc  ,  which 
originated  in  the  sediment  of  ancient  waters. 

Skn'SATIONAL. — In  mental  philosophy,  the  theory  which ,  resolves 
all  intellectual  operations  into  modifications  of  sensations.  It  js 
sometimes  called  Sensualism. 

Shakers. — A  sect  of  seceders  from  the  body  of  Quakers.  They 
live  in  communities,  as  at  New  Lebanon,  N.Y.  Their  name  arises 
from  their  manner  of  worship. 

■  Silurian. — In  geology,  fossiliferous  strata  below  the  beds  of  the 
old  red  sandstone.  Called  after  the  Silures,  or  ancient  inhabitants  of 
Wales. 

Skepticism. — A  word  first  applied  to  the  followers  of  Pyrrho,  who 
reasoned  themselves  into  universal  doubt.  In  modern  times  Mr. 
Hume  represents  this  school  of  metaphysicians.  Th^  word  is  now 
applied  to  the  expression  of  doubt  or  unbelief  respecting  the  Divine 
inspiration  of  the  Scriptures. 

SociNiANS. — The  followers  of  Socinus.  They  assert  the  mere 
humanity  of  Christ,  and  thus  differ  from  Arians,  who  attribute  to  Him 
a  superhuman  nature. 

Somatic  (Gr.  aw/za  {soma),  a  "body"). — -Pertaining  to  the  body. 

Sophists  (Gr.  ocxpog  (sop/ios),  "wise"). — From  Greek  customs  it 
has  become  applied  to  all  who  cultivate  science  or  philosophy  for 
personal  advantage, without  regard  to  the  truth  of  what  they  advance. 
It  was  chiefly  applied  to  a  class  of  teachers  in  the  fifth  century  B.C., 
who  were  opposed  by  Socrates,  Plato,  etc. 

Sorcerer  (Lat.  soi-titor,  from  sors,  a  "lot"). — Properly, divination 
by  lot,  but  ordinarily  u.sed  to  signify  one  pretending  to  magical 
powers. 

Spectrum  Analysis.— The  discrimination  of  the  chemical  con- 
stitution of  luminous  or  burning  bodies  by  means  of  certain  lines 
in  the  spectrum.  The  application  of  this  mode  of  analysis,  to  the 
heavenly  bodies,  proving  thereljy  their  chemical  structure,  is  among 
the  most  wonderful  of  scieniifit  attainments. 

Spiritualism.— In  metaphysics,  as  distinguished  from  materialism, 
is  the  system  which  teaches  that  all  that  is  real  is  spirit,  soul,  or  self; 
the  external  world  being  considered  only  as. impressions  on  the  mind 


Glossary:  299 

The  term  is  also  applied  to  those  who  believe  in  intercourse  with 
disembodied  spirits  by  means  of  writing,  speaking,  or  rapping  me- 
diums. The  conventions  of  such  have  been  chiefly  noted  for  antag- 
onism to  the  Scriptures. 

SwEDENBORGiANS. — The  followers  of  Emanuel  Swedenborg,  the 
niost  celebrated  mystic  of  the  eighteenth  century.  The  principal 
doctrines  of  this  system  are,  that  there  is  one  God,  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  in  whom  is  a  Trinity,  not  of  persons,  but  analogous  to  that 
which  exists  in  man, — soul, fotm, and  operation;  that  the  resurrection 
is  not  of  the  natural  body,  but  of  the  spiritual  body  from  the  natural; 
that  natural  things  correspond  to  spiritual  and  represent  them,  so  that 
tlie  Bible  contains  a  spiritual  sense  in  every  word  and  letter  of  the 
literal  sense,  and  must  be  interpreted  by  what  is  called  the  doctrine 
of  correspondences;  and  that  the  New  Jerusalem  foretold  in  the 
Apocalypse  is  the  new  church  of  those  who  hold  these  doctrines. 

SYM150L  (Gr.  ovv  [sun),  "t(gether,"  and  ^uKKeiv  [ballein),  to 
"throw"). — A  term  applied  to  the  creeds  by  the  old  ecclesiastical 
writers:  \\qx\cq  symbolical  books  are  such  as  contain  the  creeds  and 
confessions  of  different  churches.  The  word  is  also  applied  to  the 
representation  of  any  moral  thing  by  the  images  or  properties  of  na- 
tural things.  Thus,  the  lion  is  the  symbol  of  courage,  the  lamb  of 
meekness,  etc. 

Symi' ATRETIC  Nerve.  —  Sometimes  called  the  ganglionic,  the 
vegetative,  or  the  organic  nervous  system.  That  p(jrtioii  of  the  nervous 
system  which  is  diffused  through  the  abdomen,  forming  many  nets  and 
plexuses,  and  which  harmonizes  all  the  vegetative  functions. 

Talmud. — The  traditionary  laws  of  the  Jews.  It  consists  of  two 
parts, — the  Gemara  and  the  Miskna.  The  Gemara  consists  of  com- 
ments on  the  Mishna,  or  Rabbinical  traditions. 

Theology  (Gr.  Qtb^  {theos),  "  God,"  and  Aoyoj-  {logos),  "  doctrine"). 
— The  science  which  treats  of  the  nature  and  attributes  of  God,  of 
his  relations  to  man,  and  of  the  manner  in  which  they  may  be  dis- 
covered. 

Transcendental. — A  word  used  in  the  Kantian  philosophy  to 
express  that  which  transcends  or  goes  beyond  the  limits  of  actual 
experience. 

Travertine. — A  species  of  limestone,  deposited  from  water  hold- 
ing carbonate  of  lime  in  solution. 


300  Glossal  J, 

Unity  of  Force.     See  Correlation. 

Universal  Ether. —Attenuated  matter  which  is  supposed  bj 
natural  philosophers  to  fill  all  space. 

Vedas. — The  sacred  books  of  the  Hindoos. 

Versions.— Translations  of  the  Scriptures.  The  earliest  were  the 
Samaritan  Pentateuch  and  the  Greek  Septuagint.  In  the  earliest 
periods  of  the  Christian  era,  we  meet  with  the  Oriental  versions,  viz., 
the  Syriac  Old  and  New  Testaments,  in  the  first  century;  the  Coptic, 
and  the  Ethiopic;  the  Latin  or  Western  versions,  the  Italic,  the  Vul- 
gate, and  the  Gothic;  and  the  Greek  versions  of  Aquila,  Theodotion, 
and  Symmachus. 

Vicarious. — Substituted.  Applied  to  the  sufferings  of  Christ  as 
substituted  for  the  punishment  of  man's  guilt. 

Witchcraft. — Pretended  divination  by  supernatural  agency. 

Zendavesta. — The  sacred  books  of  the  Parsees  in  India,  and 
Guebers  or  fire-worshipers  in  Persia. 

Zoophyte  (Gr.  fwov  {zoon),zx).  "animal,"  and  ^6v  {pkyton)yZ 
"plant")  — An  animal-flower.     (See  Polyp  and  Anemone.) 


INDEX 


Abstract  being  of  Hegelianism,  22. 

Accordance  of  the  Bible  and  geol- 
ogy, 165,  167. 

Action  of  sympathetic  nerve,  197. 

Adaptation  of  the  Scriptures,  114. 

Affections  of  living  beings,  196. 

Agassiz  on  development,  158. 

AUotropism,  280. 

Analogies  of  future  bodies,  280. 

Analogy  of  faith,  113. 

Anaxagoras,  35. 

Anaximander,  35,  122. 

Ancient  ideas  of  the  world,  149. 

Angelic  ministries,  96. 
mode  of,  96. 

Angel-Jehovah,  the,  95. 

Angels,  influence  of,  251. 

Animal  magnetism,  212. 

Anima  mundi,  122. 

Annihilation,  no  necessity  for,  193. 

Anselm's  argument  on  atonement, 
222. 

Antiochus,  persecutions  of,  36. 

Antiquity  of  the  Bible,  33. 

Aphasia,  207. 

Apostles'  Creed,  266. 

Appearance   of  the   earth's  crust, 
164. 

Astronomy     consistent     with     the  | 
Bible,  143. 

Atheism,  34,  49,  124,  125. 
26 


Atonement,  parodies  of  the,  74. 
Averroes,  40. 

Bacon's  philosophy,  46. 

Balfour,  Prof.,  on  the  identity  of 
species,  156. 

Bible  the  original  record  of  revela- 
tion, 61. 

Biblical  ideas,  source  of,  73. 
history  of  the  creation,  149. 

Brewster,  Sir  David,  against  the 
Darwinian  hypothesis,  146,  158, 
159- 

Brotherhood  of  man,  120. 

Buckland,  Dr.,  on  geology  and  the 
Bible,  156. 

Buddhists,  35. 

Burning  bush,  136. 

Bush,  Prof.,  on  the  resurrection, 
272. 

Butler's  Analogy,  41. 

Catalepsy,  251, 
Cell-life,  182. 
Celsus,  38. 

Cerebro-spinal  nerves,  197. 
Chaos  from  ruined  worlds,  165. 
Christ  an  expiatory  sacrifice,  219. 

his  sacrifice  voluntary,  234. 
Christian  conception  of  God,  94. 
Christianity  adapted  to  man,  39. 
(301) 


302 


Index, 


Christianity  a  development,  54. 
peculiarity  of,  217. 
true  test  of,  39. 

Circle  of  organic  life,  181. 

Common  sensation,  197. 

Conditions  of  regeneration,  245. 

Conflict  of  Christianity  with  hea- 
thenism, 37. 

Conscience,    or   moral    sensibility, 
208,  242. 

Consciousness,  seat  of,  205. 

Contextual  interpretation,  112. 

Contradictions,  apparent,  explain- 
ed, 109. 
apparent,  no  real  objection,  109. 

Convulsions  of  nature,  164. 

Corporeal  sensation,  196. 

Correlation  of  forces  applied  to  life 
and  history,  187. 

Creation,  account  of,  in  Job,  150. 
implies  freedom,  24. 

Creeds   to  be  judged   of   by   the 
Bible,  113. 

Crises  of  faith,  37. 

Curiosities  of  Scripture  of  no  spirit- 
ual benefit,  no, 

Cuvier  on  transformation,  157, 

Daemon  of  Socrates,  246. 

Days  and  generations  synonymous, 

166. 
of  Genesis  indeterminate,  166. 
Death  not  extinction,  179. 
Definitions  of  life,  186. 
Degrees  of  inspiration,  105,  106. 
Deism,  14,  18. 
Deity,   a    personal,    unknown    in 

Greece,  113. 
Delphic  inscription,  origin  of,  124. 
Descartes,  40,  48. 
Destruction  of  the  world,  121. 
Development  theory,  17,  i8. 


Discoveries   anticipated   by  Scrip- 
ture, 105. 

Diversities   of  interpretation,   114, 
116. 

Divination,  247. 

Divine  condescension  in  the  New 
Testament,  141. 

love  more  glorious  than  power, 

142. 
truth  only  from  God,  252. 

Docetism,  265. 

Doctrine  of  the  Logos,  95. 

Dreaming,  211,  251. 

Drew,  Samuel,  on  the  resurrection, 
273- 

Early  Christian  apologists,  38. 
Eclectic  school  of  philosophy,  38. 
Effects  of  Holy  Spirit  on  the  soul 
245. 

of  passions  on  the  body,  202, 
203. 
Elevation  not  inspiration,  254. 
Elohim,  131. 
Emerson,  45. 
Emotions,  200. 

seat  of,  205. 
English  deism,  37,  38. 
Epicurus,  35,  37. 
Errors  in  science  will  not  invalidate 

Scripture,  107,  108. 
Evidences  of  Christianity,  classifi- 
cation of,  90. 
experimental,  28. 
external  and  internal ,  90. 
various,  27. 
Examination  of  Romans  ii.  17-24, 

82,  83. 
Exceptions  to  general  laws,  162. 
Existence  dependent  on  God,  192, 

of  God,  119. 
Expression,  205.    . 


Index. 


303 


Faith  defined,  11. 

necessary  to  science,  12. 
to  explain  mind,  14. 
Faith-faculty,  the,  242. 
Fall  of  man,  243. 
Fatherhood  of  God,  120. 
Feeling,  200. 
Folly  of  mystical  correspondences, 

111. 
Forgiveness  and  santification  thro" 

Christ,  230. 
Free-agency  various,  209,  210. 
French  infidelity,  37,  41,  42. 
Future  of  brutes,  195. 

Geology  a  science  of  beginnings, 
167. 
confirmatory  of  Scripture,  152, 

153.  164. 
discoveries  of,  151. 
revolution  impending  in,  154. 
German  rationalism,  37,  40. 
Gnostics,  265,  268. 
God  not  the  universe,  125. 
God's   moral  government,  what  it 

involves,  228. 
Grammatical  interpretation  of 

Scripture,  iii. 
Grecian  philosophy,  34. 
Greece,  early  history  of,  70. 

religion  of,  71. 
Guyot,    Prof.,    on    geology    and 
Scripture,  154. 

Harmonies  of  gospels,  108. 
Harmony, — a  theory  of  life,  183. 
Hierocles,  38. 

Historic  interpretation,  112. 
History  confirmatory  of  Scripture, 
57,  58,  80. 

of  astronomy  confirmatory  of 
Scripture,  169. 


History  of  a  vitalized  atom,  182, 

of  the  doctrine  of  mediation, 
221,  222. 

of  the  doctrine  of  resurrection, 
266-270. 
Human  element  in  the  Bible,  91. 

remains  at  Abbeville,  60. 
Humboldt  on  origin  of  man,  72. 

on  the  Scriptures,  160. 
Hypocrisy  of  rationahsm,  44. 
Hypotheses  of  geology,  153. 

Ideas,  200. 

Identity,  theories  of,  274. 

Imagination,  207. 

Immutable  law  a  fallacy,  163. 

India,  early  religious  thought  of,  71. 

Infidelity  unscientific,  33,  45. 

Influence  of  mind  on  body,  202. 

Innate  ideas  not  the  source  of  re- 
ligion, 75. 

Insane  philosopher,  185. 

Inspiration,  extreme  views  of,  91. 

Inspired  men  sometimes  passive, 
104. 

Instincts,  205. 

Internal  evidence,  90. 

Interpretation  depends  on  inspira- 
tion, 90,  97,  98. 

Intoxication,  212. 

Irregularities  in  nature,  162. 

Isomeric  compounds,  281. 


Jehovah,  meaning  of,  134. 
Jewish  reverence  for  the  Scriptures, 

91. 
Judgment,  208. 
Julian,  38. 

Kant's   Critique  of  Pure  Reason, 
79.  80. 


304 


Index. 


Knowledge  of  Moses  divine,  173, 
174- 

Language  necessary  to  thought,  'jj. 
Law  not  necessity,  161. 

variations  from,  161. 
Laws  of  nature,  23-26. 
Life  a  condition  or  result,  191. 

before  light,  169, 

is  matter's  master,  189. 

necessary  to  physiology  as  light 
to  optics.  T90. 

not  from  organization,  184. 

not  material,  18. 

propagation  of,  191. 
Lucian,  38. 
Lucretius,  36. 
Lyell  on  species,  157. 

Magic,  belief  in,  39,  247. 

views  of  ancients  respecting, 
248. 
Man,  creation  of,  171,  172. 

not  originally  barbarous,  53, 
Materialism,  34,  49. 
Materials  for  study  complete,  29. 
Mathematical  axioms,  12. 
Mediation  not  unreasonable,  228. 
Memory,  206. 

Mental    science    based   on  physi- 
ology, 196. 
Mesmeric  theory  of  life.  187. 
Metaphysics  against  pantheism,  18. 
Methodism,  41. 

Microscope,  discoveries  of  the,  144. 
Mind  not  dependent  on  brain,  198. 
Minutiae  of  creation,  144. 
Miracles,     Hume's   argument 

against,  172. 
Mode  of  Christ's  mediation  not  re- 
vealed, 220. 
of  life  modifies  tradition,  58. 


Mode  of  revelation,  94. 
Modern  rationalism,  44. 
unbelief,  28,  29,  37. 
Molecular  death,  191. 
Morality  against  pantheism,  21,  22. 
Moses   the   prophet   of    the    past, 

155. 
Mungo  Park,  146. 
Mutual  action  of  mind  and  body, 

196. 
Mystery  no  objection,  232. 

Names  of  Deity,  131,  134,  135. 
Necessity,  argument  against,  23. 
Necromancy,  253. 
Neo-platonism,  38. 
Nerves,  afferent  and  efferent,  204, 
205. 

Obligations  flow  from  relations,  120. 
Obscure  impressions,  201, 
Omnipotence  of  God,  139. 
Opposition  to  Christ  as  Mediator, 
218. 

to  Christianity,  causes  of,  34. 

to  Christianity,  various,  28, 29, 
46. 

to  faith  unscientific,  14. 
Oracles,  247. 

Organic  germ  necessary  to  life,  181. 
Organization,  18. 
Oriental  philosophy,  34. 
Origin  of  idea  of  God,  120. 

Paine's  Age  of  Reason,  42. 
Pantheism,  15, 16, 34,  119,  188, 193. 
Parker,  Theodore,  45. 
Parts'  of  Scripture  originally  unin- 

spired,  91,  92,  106. 
Patriarchal  ideas  of  God,  138,  139. 

knowledge,  54,  55. 

religion,  56. 


Iitdex. 


305 


Pentecost,  244. 
Perception,  205. 
Philosophic  theories,  34, 

origin  of,  34. 
Physical  origin  of  life  in  text-books, 

188,  189. 
Physiological  metaphysics,  204. 
Physiology  no  refuge  for  infidelity, 

i8o. 
Pictorial  revelation,  98,  99. 
Picture  of  creation,  169. 
Plants  anterior  to  sunlight,  170. 
Plato's  Theism,  122,  123. 
Plurality   essential    in   the   Divine 

nature,  131. 
Pope's  Essay  on  Man,  57, 
Porphyry,  38. 
Positivism,  49. 

priestcraft  of,  16. 
Precepts  of  Noah,  56. 
Primeval  man, — by   the   duke   of 

Argyll,  61-64. 
Principle  of  interpretation,  106, 107, 

110,  III. 
Provision  for  spiritual  functions, 242. 
Psychological  experience   not   the 

origin  of  religion,  79. 
Punishment  of  sin,  228,  229. 
Pyrrhonism,  34,  49. 
Pythagoras,  35. 

Reason  repudiates  pantheism,  130. 
Reciprocity  of  body  and  mind,  196. 
Redemption  the  freedom  and  love 

of  God,  26. 
Reflex  motions,  198. 
Regeneration,  245. 
Relation  of  science  and  faith,  12. 
Religious  faith  not  natural,  73. 
Resurrection  a  doctrine  of  revela- 
tion, 261-263. 
a  spiritual,  implies  a  literal,  265. 
26* 


Resurrection  in  mythology,  272. 

no  analogies  to,  277. 

not  a  development,  272. 

not  a  new  creation,  272. 

not  a  vegetation,  273. 

not  improbable  to  science,  276. 

recent  views  of,  270,  271. 

testimony  of  ancients  to  a,  266- 
269. 
Retrograde  development,  167. 
Revelation  a  matter  of  fact,  26. 

by  visions,  words,  or  impulses, 
98. 

conformable  to  knowledge  of 
the  age,  106. 
Revival  of  literature,  33,  37. 
Rocks  of  diluvian  age,  61. 
Rosetta  stone,  153. 
Rums  of  nations  confirmatory  of 

Scripture,  60. 
Rules  of  interpretation,  no,  in. 


Scale  of  existence,  17. 
Scholasticism,  37. 
Science  and  faith  mutual  witnesses, 
14. 

defined, 11. 

not  skeptical,  13. 

not   to    be   constructed    from 

Scripture,  108. 

speculations  of,  14. 

Scripture  chronology,  61-64. 

doctrine  of  resurrection,  261- 

264. 
history  the  source  of  tradition. 

73- 
representation  of  God,  125. 
Scriptures  a  complete  system,  93, 
99.  no. 

the  utterances  of  Divine  ideas, 
93. 


3o6 


Index. 


Seeming   contradictions   of  Scrip- 
ture, 107, 

Sensation,  197. 

Sensational  experience  no  source 
of  religion,  78. 

Sextus,  35. 

Silliman,    Prof.,   on   geology    and 
Scripture,  155. 

Sir  Isaac  Newton  on  necessity,  124. 

Skepticism  of  Shelley,  Byron,  etc., 
42. 

Sleep,  211. 

Socrates  on  the  soul,  184. 

Somatic  death,  191. 
vitality,  191. 

Somnambulism,  212. 

Sophists,  35. 

Soul  distinct  from  body,  179. 

Scripture  account  of  the,  179. 
sensation  and  volition  require 
a.  195. 

Sources  of  physiology,  i8i. 

Spectrum  analysis,  143. 

Spencer's  philosophy,  188. 

Sphere  of  conscience,  242. 

Spinosa,  40. 

Spirit   of  an  interpreter  of  Scrip- 
ture, 115. 

Spiritual  communications  not  im- 
probable, 94. 

functions  in  man,  242. 
impulses,  100. 

Spirituahsm,  123,  247,  251. 

Statutes  of  Adam,  56. 

St.  Augustine  on  Divine  omnipo- 
tence, 140. 

Subjective  argument    for    inspira- 
tion, lOI. 

Supernatural,  the,  14. 

Superstition  a  distortion  of  truth, 
254. 


Supreme  Being  undiscoverable  by 
reason,  78. 

unknown  to  some,  71. 

Swedenborgian  doctrine  of  resur- 
rection, 272. 

Telescope,  discoveries  of  the,  143. 
Tendencies  of  free  thought,  48. 
Tertullian  on  inspiration,  91. 
Tests  of  Divine  impulses,  256,  257. 
Thales,  35,  122. 
Theophany    the    oldest    form    of 

revelation,  95. 
Theories  of  life,  183. 
Theory  of  vital  fluid,  186. 
Trance,  251. 
Trinity  in  unity,  131. 
True  idea  of  resurrection,  275. 
Truth  the  test  of  inspiration,  108, 

109. 

Unbelief  destructive,  13. 
Unconsciousness    not   death,    199, 

200. 
Unreasonableness  of  objectors,  232, 

233. 
Use  of  reason,  225. 

Variations    among   inspired    men, 

93- 
Variety  of  spiritual  existences,  192. 
Vedas,  35. 

Verbal  revelation,  100. 
Vicarious  sacrifice   common,   233, 

234- 
sacrifice  the  glory  of  history 

234- 
Vision- of  creation  to  Moses,  137. 

Writers  of  Scripture  not  unlearned, 
io8. 


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A  Rationale  of  the  Church's  Liturgic  Worship.  A 
Study  for  the  Times.  By  Rev.  William  Rudder,  D.  D., 
Rector  of  St.  Stephen's  Church,  Philadelphia.  i6mo. 
Extra  cloth,     ^i.     Limp  cloth.     75  cents. 


''  It  is  a  most  timely  and  sound  ex- 

f)03.tion  of  the  principles  which  under- 
ie  all  true  Christian  worship.  ...  In 
both  scholarship  and  logical  power,  to 
say  nothing  of  the  elegance  and  finish 


which  mark  its  style,  it  deserves  a 
high  place  in  the  list  of  works  on  the 
subject."  —  The  Hartford  Church- 
man. 


A    Biographical    Sketch   of    Taiilerus,    a  popular 

Preacher  of  the  Fourteenth  Century.     Abridged  and  trans- 
lated   from  the    German.      By   Peter    Lossing.      i6ma 
Paper  cover.     20  cents. 
"  Most  interesting  and  \z\uzh\t."— Friends'  Intelhgenctr. 


PUBLICATIONS  OF  J.  B.  LIPPINCOTT  6-  CO. 


On  the  Miracles  of  our  Lord.     By   George  Mac-- 

donald,  LL.D.,  author   of  "  Alec   Forbes,"  "  Robert   Fal- 
coner," etc.     Illustrated.     l6mo.     Extra  cloth.     ^1.25. 


"'The  Miracles  of  our  Lord,'  by 
the  ^Yell-k^own  George  Macdonald,  is 
one  of  the  most  thoughtful,  earnest 
and  sensible  books  on  the  subject  that 
we  have  ever  met  with.  The  views  of 
the  writer,  free  from  all  taint  of  super- 
stition on  the  one  hand  and  humani- 
tarian irreverence  on  the  other,  are 
set  forth  in  clear,  forcible  and  simple 
language,  and  each  paper  is  in  itself  a 
beautiful  sermon.  We  have  had,  on 
this  mooted  subject  of  the  Miracles,  so 


much  abstruse  reasoning,  theological 
discussion  and  attempted  scientific  ex- 
planation, so  much  refining  away  and 
so  many  additions  to  the  simple,  grand 
old  stories,  that  it  is  refreshing  to  read 
Macdonald's  brief  narrative  and  ra- 
tional conmient.  We  recommend  his 
book  heartily,  and  feel  sure  that  our 
readers  will  be  deeply  interested  in  it3 
perusal." — Philadelphia  Evening  Bul- 
letin. 


Black-Robes ;  or,  Sketches  of  Missions  and  Minis- 

ters  in  the  Wilderness  and  on  the  Border.     By  Robert  P. 

Nevin.     i2mo.     Extra  cloth.     $1.50. 

"This  book  is  an  interesting  con- 
tribution to  the  religious  history  of  our 
country." — Nevi  York  Obserxier. 


"The  striking  style  and  vivid  pre- 
sentation of  this  book  make  it  very 
pleasant  reading.'" — Philadelphia  Age. 

"One  of  the  most  interesting  books 
which  have  come  before  us  of  late, 
having  to  do  with  religious  topics,  is 
•Black-Robes,'  by  Robert  P.  Nevin. 
It  binds  together  in  consistent  and  at- 
tractive form  sketches  of  the  missioi^ 
and  the  missionaries  of  the  American 


wilderness,  from  the  earliest  times. 
The  distinctive  characteristics  of  mis- 
sionaries of  the  several  denominations 
are  sketched  with  bold  and  skillful 
pencil,  while  the  scenes  depicted  are 
often  thrilling,  always  interesting,  and 
described  with  rare  vividness  and 
power.  So  fresh  a  book  is  indeed 
rare." — New  York  Evening  Mail. 

"  Replete  with  interesting,  exciting 
narrative  and  personal  adventure." — 
People's  Monthly. 


Religious  Philosophy ;    or,  Nature,  Man  and  the 

Bible  Witnessing  to  God  and  to  Religious  Truth.  Being 
the  substance  of  Four  Courses  of  Lectures  delivered  before 
the  Lowell  Institute  between  the  years  1845  ^^^  1853.  By 
Alonzo  Potter,  D.  D.,  LL.D.,  Professor  of  Moral  Philoso- 
phy in  Union  College,  and  late  Bishop  of  Pennsylvania. 
Crown  8vo.     Extra  cloth.     $^. 


"The  work  will  meet  with  a  hearty 
welcome  from  numerous  readers  as  an 
able  contribution  to  the  philosophy  of 
religion,  and  an  interesting  illustra- 
tion of  the  mental  sobriety,  practical 
sense  and  elevated  tone  which  were 


characteristic   of  the   author." — New 
York  Tribune. 

"  It  deserves  a  wide  circulation,  and 
will  be  useful  to  every  careful  reader." 
— Herald  and  Presbyter. 


State   of  the   Dead.     By   the   Rev.   Anson    West. 

Second  edition.      i2mo.     Fine  cloth.     $1.25. 


"It  is  well  written,  and  full  of 
thought."  — Philadelphia  Evening 
Bul'etin. 


"The  subject  is  treated  in  a  verv 
readable  manner,'  — Boston  Journal 


PUBLICATIONS  OF  J.  B.  LIPPINCOTT  6-  CO, 


The  Life  of  Charles  Dickens.     By  Jolm  Forster, 

author   of  "  Life   of  Goldsmith,"  "  Life   of  Landor,"  etc. 

Vol.  L,  1812  to  1842.     With  Two  Portraits  from  Steel  and 

Fac-Similes.     Second  edition.     i2mo.     Extra  cloth.     $2. 

entrusted  to  more  loving  hands,  a  more 
genial  writer  or  a  more  faithful  and 
accurate  historian. ' '  —  Philadelphia 
Evening  Bulletin. 

"Of  all  men  living,  Mr.  Forstef 
is  the  best  qualified  to  be  Charles 
Dickens's  biographer. ' ' —  Philadelphia 
Press. 

"  Should  the  remainder  of  the  work 
equal  the  first  volume  in  excellence,  no 
more  satisfactory  record  of  Dickens's 
career  can  be  looked  for  in  cur  genera- 
tion."— London  Standard. 

"The  author  of  this  life  has  fairly 
earned  the  eulogy  which  Charles  Dick- 
ens bestowed  upon  him  wlien,  years 
ago,  he  wrote  :  '  I  desire  no  better  as- 
surance for  my  fame,  when  my  personal 
dustiness  shall  be  past  the  control  of 
my  love  of  order,  than  such  a  biogra- 
pher and  such  a  critic."  —  London 
Morning  Post. 


"The  publication  of  Mr.  Forster's 
•fiirst  volume'  will  almost  prove  as 
great  a  surprise  to  the  world  as  the 
first  appearance  of  the  first  story  which 
won  fame  for  the  subject  of  the  biogra- 
phy. .  .  .  Now  for  the  first  time  we 
seem  to  have  learned  the  secret  of  the 
individuality  belonging  to  all  of  Dick- 
ens's really  great  novels.  ...  In  all 
the  history  of  literature  and  of  literary 
training  there  is  nothing  more  touch- 
ing, more  interesting  and  more  instruc- 
tive. .  .  .  Mr.  Forster's  book  is  sug- 
gestive enough  to  open  a  new  chapter 
m  literary  criticism.  .  .  .  Whether  in 
the  way  of  biography  or  of  criticism,  he 
has  done  his  work  admirably ;  and 
when  the  book  is  completed,  we  shall 
have  a  Life  of  Dickens  worthy  of  the 
man  and  of  the  enduring  creations  of 
his  brain." — London  Daily  News. 

"The  work    could  not  have  been 

Essays  of  an  Optimist.     By  John   William  Kaye, 

r.  R.  S.,  author  of  "History  of  the  War  in  Afghanistan," 
"  Life  of  Lord  Metcalfe,"  "  History  of  the  Sepoy  War," 
etc.     i6mo.     Extra  cloth.     1^1.50. 


"  We  most  sincerely  trust  that  Mr. 
Kaye's  book  may  find  its  way  into 
many  an  English  household.  It  can- 
not fail  to  instill  lessons  of  manliness.' 
—  IVestminster  Review. 


"  It  would  be  difiRcult  to  find  a  book 
which  is  more  pleasurable  and  profit- 
able, or  which  combines  in  greater  de- 
gree good  common  sense  with  uncom- 
monly good  writing."  —  New  York 
Evening  Mail. 

Light  of  the  World,  and  other  Poems  and  Hymns, 

By  Eminent  Writers.     Beautifully  Illustrated.    4to.    Super- 
fine paper.     Extra  cloth,  full  gilt.     $5. 

taining  a  number  of  poems  of  a  re- 


"  We  hardly  know  anything  so 
Bweet,  so  devout  and  so  artistically 
perfect  as  these  designs.  They  enter 
into  the  soul  like  a  sweet  Sabbath 
twilight." — New  York  Independent. 

"  It  is  a  quarto  volume,  exquisite  in 
paper,  typography  and    binding,  con- 


ligious  character  by  living  English 
poets.  Each  poem  is  illustrated,  and 
the  designs  are  all  very  original  and 
beautiful.  Some  of  them  are  worthj 
of  being  separated  and  framed. "- 
Philadelphia  Everting  Bulletin. 


Poems.      By   Lucy   Hamilton    Hooper.       With   a 

Portrait  from   steel.     i2mo.     Toned   paper.     Extra  cloth. 

Gilt  lop.     %\.']^. 

"  Mrs.  Hooper  has  rapidly  taken  a  I  tends  to  very  loftv  and  noble  regiom 
high  rank  among  the  poets  of  America,  of  thought  and  feeling."— //(//rt/i^A 
In  »his  volume  there  is  much  that  as-  I  phia  Evening  Bulletin. 


PUBLICATIONS  OF  J.  B.  LIPPINCOTT  ^  CO. 


Life  and  Writings  of  Alexander  y antes  Dallas.  By 
his  son,  George  Mifflin  Dallas.  8vo.  Extra  cloth. 
Uncut  edges.     ^5. 


"  This  biography  will  form  a  valu- 
able addition  to  the  materials  for  the 
political  history  of  the  United  States." 
—New  York  Tribune. 

"  An  instructive  and  valuable  me- 
moir, to  whose  merits  we  cannot  do 
justice  in  one  brief  article." — Phila- 
ielphia  Evening  Bulletin, 


"This  volume  is  an  important  con« 
tribution  to  history,  a  most  interest- 
ing addition  to  modern  biography.  It 
is  the  life  of  a  statesman  by  a  states- 
man."— Philadelphia  Age. 

'■  It  is  a  valuable  contribution  to 
American  political  history." — Ciftcin' 
nati  Gazette. 


Life  of  jfohn  J.  Crittenden.      With  Selections  from 

his  (correspondence  and  Speeches,     Edited  by  his  daughter, 
Mrs.  Chapman  Coleman.     With  Two  Portraits  from  Steel. 
Royal  8vo.     Toned  paper.     Fine  cloth.     $7.50. 
"The  history  of  liis  life  is  almost  a  |  are  stated  without  comment  or  illustra 


history  of  the  country,  and  his  memoirs 
contains  rich  material  for  the  student 
of  political  economy." — Philadelphia 
Evening  Brtllctin. 

"It  is  full  of  instruction  to  young 
America."  —  IVashitigton  Morning 
Chronicle. 

"  Since  the  Revolutionary  period, 
our  country  has  produced  no  man 
whose  civil  and  political  career  better 
deserves  to  be  commemorated. 

"This  biography  of  him  is  by  his 
daughter,  Mrs.  Coleman.  It  connects 
the  events  of  his  life  and  the  letters 
illustrating  them  by  a  simple  narrative, 
which  is  always  natural  and  interest- 
ng.     His  political  course  and  opinions 


tion.  In  the  portraiture  of  the  man 
we  believe  affection  does  not  exag- 
gerate his  merits.  Few  public  men  of 
any  country  have  lived  so  free  of  just 
reproach.  Few  have  been  found  so 
uniformly  magnanimous  and  patriotic 
in  the  whole  course  of  their  public 
lives.  This  edition  contains  two  vol- 
umes in  one  excellently  printed  octavo. 
It  ought  to  be  in  every  library,  for  the 
work  covers  a  long  and  important 
period  of  political  history,  and  exhibits 
a  character  that  men  of  all  parties 
agree  to  honor  as  a  noble  example  of 
an  American  patriot  and  statesman." 
— Philad-elphia  Age. 


Memoir  of  Ulric  Dahlgren.     By  his  Father^  Rear^ 
Admiral  Dahlgren.      With   Portrait  from   Steel.     i2mo. 

Extra  cloth.  *  $1.75. 
"As  an  eloquent  tribute  to  one  of 


the  real  heroes  of  the  war  it  will,  we 
are  certain,  receive  a  cordial  welcome."  | 
—Philadelphia  Evening  Telegraph.     \ 


"  We  heartily  recommend  it  to  tha 
notice  of  the  reading  public." — IVash- 
ington  SutidnLy  Gazette. 


Life  of  George  Read,  a  Signer  of  the  Declaration 

of  Independence,  with  a  Selection  from  his  Correspondence, 
and  Notices  of  some  of  his  Contemporaries.  By  his  grand- 
son, William  T.  Read.     8vo.     Extra  cloth.     $4. 

commendation  to  the    author.      Tha 


"  The  work  is  enriched  by  very  many 
iiiecdotes,  descriptions  and  sketches. 
There  are  many  excerpts  from  recon- 
lite  sources,  particularly  in  the  chap- 
ers  on  Congress ;  and  the  whole  work 
s  one  of  not  less  value  to  the  public 
hail  honor  to  its  subject,  and  is  a  great 


letters  form  a  large  part  of  the  whole, 
and  express  the  opinions  of  contem- 
poraries on  men.  and  questions,  and 
events. ' ' — Philadelphia  North  A  tneri- 
can. 


PUBLICATIONS  OF  J.  B.  LIFPJNCOTT  &  CO. 


The  History  of  Charles  the  Bold,  Duke  of  Bur- 

gundy.  By  John  Foster  Kirk.  Complete  in  Three 
Vols.,  8vo.  With  Portraits  and  Maps.  Price  per  set: 
Fine  cloth,  $9;  Library  sheep,  |Ji  1,25.  Fine  Paper  Edition  : 
Half  vellum,  $11.25;  Extra  cloth,  gilt  top,  $10.50;  Half 
calf,  neat,  $13.50;  Half  calf,  gilt  extra,  $15. 


"  We  welcome  with  genuine  pleasure 
I  narrative  of  an  important  portion  of 
history  by  a  countryman  of  Mr.  Pres- 
cott  and  Mr.  Motley,  a  writer  fully  en- 
titled to  take  his  place  alongside  of 
them,  and  in  some  respects,  perhaps, 
to  be  preferred  to  either.  .  .  .  His  re- 
search seems  to  be  unwearied.  .  .  , 
His  narratives  of  events  and  his 
general  pictures  of  the  time  are  of  a 
very  high  order  ;  it  would  not  be  going 
too  far  to  say  that  they  are  first  rate." 
—Edward  A .  Freeman  {the  historian 
if  the  Norman  Conquest),  in  tJie 
National  Review. 

"  We  have  no  hesitation  in  assigning 
to  Mr.  Kirk's  most  fascinating  narra- 
tive a  place  with  the  great  achieve- 
ments of  genius  in  the  department  he 
has  chosen  to  fill.  This  event  among 
historians  will  be  welcomed  the  world 
over." — Atlantic  Monthly. 

"  The  author  will  take  his  stand  at 
once  among  the  great  writers  of  his 
land  and  time."  —  Dr.  R.  SJielton 
Mackenzie. 

"Mr.  Kirk  has  produced  a  work 
which  is  quite  entitled  to  rank  with 
the  writings  of  his  two  predecessors 
(Prescott  and  Motley).  .  .  .  His  ex- 
tensive and  minute  knowledge  is  the 
learning  of  a  man  of  vigorous  thought, 
accustomed  to  bring  his  mind  to  con- 
sider  men  and  things,  not  merely  as 


they  have  been  written  about,  but  as 
they  actually  were,  in  the  variety  and 
complexity  of  their  real  existence.  .  .  . 
His  imagination  is  active  and  impres- 
sible. .  .  .  The  last  scenes  of  this  im- 
pressive history,  ^he  glee  and  the  mix- 
ture of  cunning  with  shameless  candor, 
the  subtle  play  of  amusement,  anxiety 
and  grim  hatred  in  Louis,  the  sinking 
deeper  and  deeper  into  confusion  and 
hopelessness  of  his  doomed  antagonist, 
the  horrors  of  the  Swiss  victories, — are 
powerfully  told.  Perhaps  Mr.  Kirk 
allows  himself  sometimes  to  be  carried 
awajr  beyond  the  gravity  of  the  histor- 
ian into  the  sentiment  and  passion 
which  properly  belong  to  tragedy. 
But  he  may  plead  an  excuse  in  the 
awful  character  of  what  lie  relates,  and 
in  his  thorough  comprehension  of  its 
significance,  and  his  sympathy  with  its 
solemn  and  affecting  vicissitudes.  To 
the  last  he  is  equal  to  the  great  de- 
mands of  his  task,  and  he  keeps  his 
hold  on  thfe  attention  of  his  readers 
with  imfailing  mastery  over  tlie  story, 
and  sustained  ability  in  telling  it." — 
Sattirday  Review. 

"  Will  unquestionably  establish  the 
title  of  Mr.  Kirk  to  an  eminent  posi- 
tion in  the  already  justly-honored 
school  of  American  historians." — Nezt 
York  Tribune. 


Memoirs  of  the  Life  and  Services  of  the  Right 
Reverend  Alonzo  Potter,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  Bi.shop  of  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  the  Diocese  of  Pennsyl- 
vania. By  M.  A.  DE  Wolfe  Howe,  D.D.,  Rector  of  St. 
Luke's  Church,  Philadelphia.  Crown  8vo.  Toned  paper. 
Extra  cloth.     $3. 


"  His  Memoirs  have  been  compiled 
ffom  copious  material,  collected  with 
loving  hands,  and  arranged  with  good 
taste  and  wisdom.  We  commend  the 
entire  volume  to  our  readers  as  a 
aoble  monument  to  one  of  the  noblest 


men  who  has  ever  had  his  life  cast  ir 
this  community,  and  whose  mernory  is 
still  held  in  grateful  esteem  by  thou- 
sands outside  the  pale  of  his  own 
church." — Philadelphia  Fvening  Bui 
letin. 


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THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  UBRARY 


